The Pittsburgh Pirates needed to rebound after being swept by the Chicago Cubs. The Pirates were flat-out embarrassed by the Cubs, so when Pittsburgh crushed the St. Louis Cardinals 10-5 on Sunday to secure a series win, it provided a little vindication.
Pittsburgh’s Gerrit Cole (3-3) had a 33-pitch first inning — 12 pitches more than should have been necessary after he failed to locate a strikeout pitch to Matt Holliday. On that play, Pirates’ catcher Chris Stewart couldn’t block the pitch, and Holliday was safe at first.
Fortunately for Cole, his only punishment was throwing extra pitches; he wasn’t punished on the scoreboard. He seemed to calm down after that, and his curveball frustrated the Cardinals’ hitters. Cole threw two different types of curveballs, which was a big reason he had seven strikeouts in six innings.
St. Louis’ pitcher, Michael Wacha, appeared to be able to do no wrong. He had thrown just 16 pitches after two innings and just 30 pitches through three perfect innings.
But Pirates’ leadoff hitter John Jaso changed the course of the game. Wacha had Jaso 0-2 but threw a pitch Jaso got a piece of. Matt Carpenter, the Cardinals’ third baseman, had shifted toward second base and couldn’t get a proper read off the bat.
While the Pirates didn’t score that inning, it set the stage for what was to come.
One inning later, Stewart doubled in Jordy Mercer when a ball close to the third base foul line snuck by Carpenter, just beyond his reach.
But the Pirates weren’t done.
Jaso kept fouling off pitches to work the count to 3-2. Finally, he saw one he liked: an elevated change up that was off-location. Cardinals’ catcher Yadier Molina’s glove told the story — he had aimed his glove low, and then, as if in slow motion, his glove elevated up the zone. Jaso’s ball went beyond the reach of right fielder Stephen Piscotty for Jaso’s second home run of the season.
By the time Wacha was done, he had thrown six innings and 106 pitches, which meant he threw 76 pitches in his final three innings.
Remember that ’33’ from Cole’s first inning? Well, it took 33 pitches for the Cardinals to record an out in the seventh inning.
Matt Bowman came on in relief and walked pinch-hitter Matt Joyce. Jaso then doubled, and Andrew McCutchen singled Joyce home. Bowman then faced Gregory Polanco, and Bowman attempted to work Polanco away. It appeared to be working until a 2-1 pitch sliced just fair over the left field fence to give the Pirates an 8-2 lead. Cardinals manager Mike Matheny then pulled Bowman in favor of Seth Maness, who settled down the Pirates’ bats.
The 8-2 lead appeared safe, but Pirates’ relief pitcher Kyle Lobstein struggled and loaded the bases (he walked two.) An RBI force play wasn’t enough to keep him in the game, and Pirates’ manager Clint Hurdle called on Arquimedes Caminero to get the inning’s final out.
Caminero didn’t accomplish that, instead allowing a two-run single to Molina that brought the Cardinals within three runs. It took a third pitcher, Neftali Feliz, to get out of the inning.
However, the Pirates then increased their lead to five with RBI singles from Josh Harrison and Stewart, but Pittsburgh once again encountered bullpen troubles in the bottom of the ninth.
Ryan Vogelsong started the inning and allowed a leadoff double to Carpenter and a single to Piscotty. After striking out Piscotty, Vogelsong walked Brandon Moss, and Hurdle called for another change, bringing closer Mark Melancon in for the save situation.
Melancon got Molina to ground out to third baseman David Freese, earning Melancon his ninth save of the season.
This win puts the Pirates back on track as they head to Cincinnati for a three-game series.
Monday night will be the first game of the series as Jonathon Niese (3-1 5.94 ERA) takes on Dan Straily (1-1 3.56 ERA). Niese is 2-4 with a 4.06 ERA in seven career starts against the Reds.
Image credit: Jim McIsaac/Getty Images
