Pittsburgh Pirates Drop Second In A Row To St. Louis Cardinals
By Larry Snyder
The Pittsburgh Pirates went extra innings again in St. Louis, but the result was the same Saturday as they lost 2-1 in 11 innings to the Cardinals.
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The Bucs offense missed multiple opportunities as they stranded 18 runners on base. Clint Hurdle‘s squad has scored just two runs in 21 innings over the last two contests. The record for the crew of the Jolly Roger has dropped to .500 at 12-12. They were 9-15 after 24 games last season.
For the second game in a row, the Pirates were not able to take advantage of a strong pitching performance. Francisco Liriano allowed one earned run on three hits over eight innings. He struck out four and walked three on the day. The 6-foot-2, 225-pound lefthander fired 61 of his 98 pitches for strikes.
The afternoon started out well as Pittsburgh put up a run in the thrid. Josh Harrison singled on a ground ball to left off Cardinals starter John Lackey that scored Gregory Polanco.
The Redbirds knotted it all back up in the sixth. With nobody out John Jay grounded out to first baseman Pedro Alvarez that drove in Peter Bourjos from third base.
Tony Watson took the mound in the ninth and kept St. Louis in check as he retired the side. The 6-foot-4, 225-pound lefthander delivered seven of his 13 pitches for strikes.
Pittsburgh Pirates
The Cards claimed victory in the home half of the 11th off righthander Jared Hughes, when with two runners aboard and one out, Matt Carpenter sent a sacrifice fly to left that brought Pete Kozma across the plate.
Lackey surrendered one earned run on six hits over six innings for the Cards. The 6-foot-6, 235-pound righthander walked three and struck out four. He hurled 66 of his 101 pitches for strikes.
Carlos Villanueva improved his record to 3-1 as he picked up the win for St. Louis. The 6-foot-2, 215-pound righthander faced five batters in the 11th and threw 10 of his 18 pitches for strikes.
For the Pirates, nine batters collected at least one hit. Polanco went 2-for-3 at the plate. Starling Marte was 3-for-6 on the afternoon.
Up Next: The Pirates and Cards conclude their three-game set Sunday. The first pitch is set for 2:15 p.m. St. Louis (17-6) will go with righthander Michael Wacha (4-0, 2.42 ERA) and the Bucs will send Vance Worley (2-2, 4.50 ERA) to the mound.
The 27-year-old will be making his fifth start of the season. His last start was a 4-0 loss Monday to the Cubs in Chicago. The 6-foot-2, 250-pound righthander is 0-0 with a 4.96 ERA in three career starts against St. Louis. The game will be on ROOT Sports Pittsburgh.
From The Clipboard: The time of the game was 3:27 and 45,095 were in the seats at Busch Stadium…Pittsburgh has gone 5-3 in day games this season. They are 3-0 at home and 2-3 on the road…The Pirates are off Monday before opening a three-game series with the Cincinnati Reds Tuesday at PNC Park.
Next: Burnett passes Koufax on all-time K's list in loss