As the Pirate and Cardinals head into a winner-take-all Game 5 tonight to see which of them are destined to face off with the Dodgers in the NLCS, much has been made of the pitching matchup between a seasoned veteran and an untested phenom, and for good reason. It should make for one of the most highly-anticipated postseason pitching matchups in recent memory and will likely be decided by one or two runs.
On one side, there is Cy Young award contender Adam Wainwright, who has already been on two World Series-winning clubs in his time with the Redbirds. He himself was a young pitcher used in a relief role when St. Louis took down the Detroit Tigers in 2006. He has been the ace for the Cardinals all season long and his experience in big games, coupled with the fact that the series finale is in St. Louis, makes the Pirates clear underdogs in this game.
Pirates rookie Gerrit Cole, who has been on fire the past month, was given the ball in a statement move by manager Clint Hurdle and will pitch the biggest game of his career thus far in the same place he allowed two hits over six masterful innings last Friday. Scheduled starter AJ Burnett, who could be viewed as the Pirates’ version of Wainwright, was tagged for seven runs in the second inning of Game 1, a 9-1 blowout by St. Louis. Hurdle’s pending decision had been a hotly debated topic over the last 48 hours and he knew what was at stake and what type of statement he was making in putting the team’s fate in the hands of the 23 year old flamethrower.
Following Michael Wacha’s flirtation with a no-hitter in Game 4, serious concerns about the Pirates’ bats are sure to be raised. However, Wacha works very fast and was hitting his spots all night long until Pedro Alvarez’s mammoth shot in the eighth, and he also was one out away from a no-no in his final start of the season. The Bucs have seen Wainwright more over the last two seasons and any small spark can turn into a big inning in the playoffs, so nobody should count the Pirates out yet. If Cole can continue his current dominating form and the Bucs string together timely hits, then there could be a West Coast road trip in Hurdle and the crew’s future.
