Pittsburgh Pirates Are Swept By St. Louis Cardinals
By Larry Snyder
Despite solo home runs from Jung Ho Kang and Pedro Alvarez, the Pittsburgh Pirates were swept Sunday in extra innings 3-2 by the Cardinals in St. Louis.
More from Pittsburgh Pirates
- Pittsburgh Pirates: A Look Back at 2019
- Pirates: Hiring Don Kelly Yet Another Smart Offseason Move
- Pirates’ Solid Offseason Continues with Hiring of Derek Shelton
- Pirates: Derek Shelton Makes Most Sense As Next Manager
- Pirates: Drew Smyly Makes Sense as Potential High-Reward Signing
The Bucs concluded their 10-day, nine-game road trip 4-5. Clint Hurdle’s squad went 3-0 against Arizona, 1-2 against Chicago, and 0-3 against St. Louis. The crew of the Jolly Roger saw their record drop below .500 to 12-13. Last season, they were 10-15 after 25 games.
Kang collected his first Major League home run and knotted the game up in the ninth when he sent a fly ball over the wall in center off Cards reliever Trevor Rosenthal. He went 2-for-5 at the plate.
Alvarez, who drew four walks over the course of the game, claimed his fifth homer in the 12th as he sent a line drive to right center off the Cards Sam Tuivailata.
Vance Worley surrendered one earned run on four hits in six innings of work. He struck out five and walked only one. The 6-foot-2, 250-pound righthander hurled 53 of his 89 pitches for strikes.
The Redbirds took a 1-0 lead in the home half of the fourth. Matt Carpenter blasted his fourth home run on a line drive to center.
St. Louis tied it up in the bottom of the 12th when with the bases loaded and one out, Peter Bourjos singled on a ground ball off Radhames Liz to third base that drove in Peter Kozma.
Pittsburgh Pirates
The Cards captured the win in the bottom of the 14th when with one out, Kolten Wong went deep to right center field on a line drive off Liz for his second home run of the season. Liz’ record is now 1-2 on the season.
St. Louis starter Michael Wacha did not permit the Pirates to get on the scoreboard and allowed just five hits over six 2/3 innings. The 6-foot-6, 210-pound righthander walked two and struck out two. He delivered 70 of his 100 pitches for strikes.
Miguel Socolovich, who pitched the top of the 14th for the Cards, picked up his first win of the season. The 6-foot-1, 195-pound righthander retired the Bucs in order as he threw 10 of his 15 pitches for strikes.
For the Pirates, joining Kang in the box score with two hits on the afternoon were Gregory Polanco (2-for-7) and Starling Marte (2-for-6).
Up Next: A reminder that the Pirates are off Monday before opening a three-game series with the Cincinnati Reds (12-12) Tuesday at PNC Park. The first pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. The Reds will send righthander Michael Lorenzen (0-1, 5.40 ERA) to the hill and the Bucs will counter with Jeff Locke (2-1, 4.76 ERA).
The 27-year-old will be making his fifth start of the season. His last start was a 6-2 loss Tuesday to the Cubs in Chicago. The 6-foot, 195-pound lefthander is 2-1 with a 2.75 ERA in seven career starts against Cincy. The game will be on ROOT Sports Pittsburgh.
From The Clipboard: The time of the game was 4:28 and 44,382 were in attendance at Busch Stadium…Pittsburgh is 6-9 on the road this season and 5-4 in day games…The Pirates are 5-9 when the opposition scores first and 0-4 in extra inning contests this season.
Next: Grading all seven rounds of Steelers draft