It was a familiar sight for Pittsburgh Pirates fans as the team gave itself opportunities against the St. Louis Cardinals, but could not convert.
The Pirates stranded 16 runners and left the bases loaded four times in a 3-0 loss Monday night.
“We didn’t meet the demands of the game tonight,” manager Clint Hurdle said.
J.A. Happ ended his outing retiring the last 11 batters and faced the minimum amount of Cardinals through six innings. He threw 56 pitches, 43 of which were strikes.
“It’s for the greater good of the game,” said Happ of his removal from the game. “It’s just the nature of the game. I fully understand, that gave us the best chance to go ahead there.”
The Pirates were in a scoreless game and elected to go with a pinch-hitter in the bottom of the sixth with a runner in scoring position. This move backfired as Gregory Polanco popped out to right field, stranding the bases loaded.
Mark Melancon [3-2] pitched the ninth inning, and allowed Jon Jay to reach base by single. Both Polanco and Andrew McCutchen bobbled the ball in the outfield allowing Matt Carpenter to come all the way from first base and score. The next batter, Mark Reynolds, hit a home run, his 13th of the season. Reynolds has three homers on the season against the Pirates, the most he has against any team. It also was the fourth home run Melancon has allowed this season.
Trevor Rosenthal earned his 48th save of the season, a Cardinals single-season high and allowed Jonathan Broxton [4-5] to earn the win.
“We had our backs against the wall every single inning, a lot of it self-induced,” Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. “We made big plays all the way though, guys stepped up when they had to and it was just an unbelievable win.”
Stephen Piscotty (right) was injured in the seventh inning as his face collided with Peter Bourjos’ knee. Pirates PR said that the injury was a head contusion and that he was taken to a local hospital. Bourjos was brought in as a defensive replacement playing center field and Piscotty moved from right to left field.
The collision happened after Bourjos made the catch on a hard-hit Josh Harrison fly ball. A PNC Park grounds crew member brought out the cart for Piscotty as members of both teams training staffs tended to him. Pirates fans gave Bourjos a nice ovation which grew louder when he waved his left hand as he was being carted off the field.
Matheny said following the game that tests on Piscotty were negative and that he would be kept overnight and monitored.
Bourjos said of the play that both men tried to make a play and with the crowd noise it was too loud for them to hear each other. He immediately signaled for help because he felt Piscotty was not quite right. He said after that he could care less about the ball once it was clear that Piscotty was hurt.
With the loss the Pirates fall to four games behind the Cardinals for first place in the National League Central.
“We couldn’t care less what the number is,” Josh Harrison said. “Season ain’t over until it’s over. It’s a tough loss but we have another one against them tomorrow.
The three-game series is scheduled to resume Tuesday night when Charlie Morton [9-8 4.54 ERA] faces Michael Wacha [17-6 3.15 ERA]. Morton is 2-11 with a 5.30 ERA in 17 career starts against the Cardinals.
Photo credit: @Pirates (main), Getty Images (inset)
