9/3/23- By Michael Castrignano – @412DoublePlay on Twitter
Following an extra innings win and a 9th inning comeback victory against the Cardinals, Bucs were hoping for an easier match with the getaway day. Facing long-time rivals, they knew it would never be easy.
After going down 1-2-3 in the top of the first, starter Johan Oviedo immediately got himself into trouble in the bottom of the frame. Fresh off his first complete game shutout last week against the Royals, Oviedo gave up a single to Lars Nootbaar and walked Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Gorman to load the bases with no outs and reigning Platinum Glove Winner, Nolan Arenado, at-bat. Fortunately, the Pirates have a pretty sweet-fielding third baseman themselves.
Ke’Bryan Hayes was able to knock down a line drive by Arenado that was 102.3 MPH off the bat and get the lead runner out at home. Following a strikeout and a foul out, Pirates were able to get out of the inning with the game still scoreless. The tie, however, wouldn’t last much longer.
After a fly-out by Connor Joe in the top of the second inning, recently selected Miguel Andujar showed off some pop, shooting a line drive home run that just stayed fair down the left field line.
Red Birds clawed back in the bottom of the inning with a 2-out rally: Tommy Edman single, walks to Nootbaar and Goldschmidt set up another bases-loaded situation and Cardinals took advantage with a single to right by Gorman to score a pair. Jordan Walker added another one in the third inning with a laser home run, which left the bat at 110.8 MPH.
Pirates stormed back in the 4th inning as back-to-back singles by Bryan Reynolds and Andrew McCutchen put men on the corners for Connor Joe to notch his 35th RBI on the year with a fielder’s choice to shortstop. Liover Peguero drove a double to left that just missed going out, scoring Joe and tying the game at 3-all once more.
Oviedo was not nearly as sharp in this outing as his last go-round, lasting 3.2 innings, 4 hits, 5 runs (3 earned) with 2 strikeouts and 6 walks – his 97 pitch count of 48 strikes to 49 balls. He left the bases loaded in the 4th inning as lefty Ryan Borucki took over and hung a middle-middle slider to Alec Burleson, who managed to drive it to center and score two runs.
Cardinals starter, southpaw Zack Thompson, was much more efficient with his pitches, setting the Bucs batters down in order in the first, third, fifth, and seventh innings. His final line was 7 innings, 7 hits, 3 runs, 6 strikeouts and zero walks.
Borucki and Rob Zastryzny combined for 3 innings of 1-run ball to keep the Bucs in the game. Zastryzny allowed a double to Walker and an infield single to Richie Palacios that 2nd baseman, Vinny Capra, was not able to field and throw accurately enough to get him out, allowing Walker to come around and score.
Pirates managed some late-inning magic: In the 8th inning, Andujar managed to beat out a would-be inning-ending double play ball with the bases loaded to score a run and was confirmed after review. In the bottom of the 8th. Pirates narrowly missed getting Burleson on a bases-loaded grounder hit to shortstop but it was overturned after umpire review. Unfortunately, team wasn’t able to get any more runs and dropped the final game 6-4.
News & Notes
- Oviedo tied his career high in walks (6) and had his 10th pitch violation of the year facing Arenado in the 4th inning – which is tied for 2nd in all of baseball behind only Craig Kimbrel with 11.
- Two runs which scored in the 4th inning were unearned due to an error by Peguero, who was unable to field a ground ball to his right.
- Speaking of Peguero, he notched another multi-hit game and finished the road-trip 10-for-20 at the plate.
- The last time the Pirates completed a sweep in St. Louis was 3+ games was in 1997 (July 3-6). They’ll have to wait for next season for another shot after finishing with a record of 9-4 against them this year.
- Pirates head back to Pittsburgh to face another division rival in the Milwaukee Brewers. Game starts at 6:35PM EST. Let’s Go Bucs!
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