Defensive lapses once again reared their head as the Pittsburgh Pirates fell by a 4-2 score Wednesday night to the St. Louis Cardinals.
The big blow came in the sixth inning when Gregory Polanco tried to run down a ball in shallow right field. He misjudged it and the ball rolled to the wall. After the dust had cleared, Randal Grichuk scored what proved to be the game-winning run and Yadier Molina was on third base with his second triple of the season.
In addition to that miscue, the Pirates saw errors from Jung Ho Kang [10] and Neil Walker [4]. Ramirez also made a miscue in the bottom of the eighth inning, when he was unable to tag Molina, who was trying to steal third base. Francisco Cervelli’s threw arrived in plenty of time but Ramirez could not tag Molina’s leg in time. Ramirez has four errors since joining the Pirates and a WAR this season of -0.7.
Things appeared to be promising for the Pirates when they tied the game in the fifth inning. Andrew McCutchen hit a ball to center field and Grichuk lost his footing in center field, scoring Polanco. McCutchen earned his third triple of the season on the play. An inning earlier, McCutchen had hit a leadoff solo home run, his 18th of the season to right field off Michael Wacha.
The Cardinals scored first with two runs in the third inning of Gerrit Cole.
Cole [14-6], led off with a walk to Wacha. Two batters later, Kolten Wong added a single, putting Wacha into scoring position. Jhonny Peralta then singled, loading the bases. Pedro Alvarez and Walker both tried to get to the soft hit ball and when Alvarez tried to get back to the base, his foot did not touch the bag. The Pirates challenged the play, but the ruling was upheld. Jason Heyward then came up and grounded into a force out at second. Walker then made a throwing error trying to a turn a double play, allowing two runs to score and Heyward to be safe at first base.
With Wacha [14-4] on the mound, the Pirates tried to take a patient approach and, to a degree, were successful as Wacha was removed after six innings of work and two runs allowing on nine hits. His nine hits allowed tied a season high set June 9 against the Colorado Rockies. Wacha also threw 110 pitches, his highest total May 30 against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The Cardinals took the lead for good in the sixth inning. In addition to the Polanco defensive blunder which scored Grichuk, Stephen Piscotty singled on a drawn in infield scoring Molina.
Trevor Rosenthal pitched the ninth inning and earned his 35th save of the season, tying Mark Melancon for the major league lead.
The Cardinals now lead the National League Central by seven games. With the Chicago Cubs winning earlier Wednesday night, the Pirates lead in the first wild card position is 1.5 games. The Cardinals are now 5-0 against the Pirates at Busch Stadium this season.
Of note: Starling Marte exited Wednesday night’s game early with left hand discomfort. He was replaced in the middle of the third inning by Sean Rodriguez. Hurdle did not offer much additional information following the game other than that he will be re-examined Thursday.
Antonio Bastardo lowered his ERA to 3.41 following his outing in Wednesday’s game. Bastardo has not allowed a run since July 30. This is the lowest his ERA has been since July 1… Both Josh Harrison and Jordy Mercer did not play Wednesday night in their rehab stints with Triple-A Indianapolis. The Indians lost 4-2 and managed five hits. Chris Volstad took the loss and is 9-5 on the season… The Double-A Altoona Curve won 5-2 Wednesday and Chad Kuhl picked up his ninth win. Erich Weiss went 2-for-3 and is batting .348 on the season. Adam Frazier recorded an RBI and is now batting .335… First round draft choice Kevin Newman, got the start with the Single-A West Virginia Power however went 0-for-4. He is batting .154. The Power also won 5-2… Supplemental first-round draft choice Ke’Bryan Hayes is batting .354 with the GCL Pirates.
Photo credit: Chris Lee/St. Louis Post-Dispatch
