4 run 8th inning propels Cardinals over Pirates, 6-2
Dakota Hudson wouldn’t pitch long tonight, yielding way to the bullpen in the 5th inning after tossing 49 pitches (31 strikes), leaving the game with a 2-2 tie. Hud would even deliver his first scoreless 1st inning in his last five outings, his last coming vs the Diamondbacks on 07/13.
The offense would even give Hud a 1-0 lead heading into the top of the 2nd. Dex-Edman-Goldy would open the bottom of the 1st with three consecutive singles, going station to station to load the bases for Ozuna. Archer, who buckled down from this point on, induced a huge 6-4-3 double play, as Dex scored to make it 1-0 Cards. Archer would leave it at that, striking out the first of nine, getting DeJong to swing and miss at some high 96mph heat.
The Bucs struck back in the top of the 2nd, getting things started with a leadoff double from Bell over the head of Dex in CF. Bell then advanced to 3B on a wild pitch from Hud, and Osuna would drive him in with a sac fly to LF to even things up at 1-1. Hud would strand two runners (Newman & Stallings), getting Archer to ground out back to him on the mound to end the inning.
Hud would bounce back and deliver an 8 pitch 3rd inning after Archer would strikeout the side in the bottom of the 2nd. After getting Frazier to ground out to KoWo, Hud would hit Reynolds on the foot with a pitch to bring in Marte, who grounded into one of two double plays started by Hud, an inning ending 5-4-3 twin killing.
Tommy Edman would bring a little excitement in the bottom of the 3rd, pulling a two out triple into RF, bouncing in front of a diving Reynolds and getting behind him to put the speedster on 3B. Archer would strand him at 3B, getting Goldy to lineout softly to Frazier.
Bell and Osuna would leadoff the top of the 4th with back-to-back hits, a double from Bell and a single from Osuna to put runners on the corners with nobody out for Moran. Moran would give the Bucs the lead with a sac fly to Dex to make it 2-1 Pittsburgh. Hud would induce his second inning ending double play on Stallings, getting him to ground out 6-4-3 on the play.
The Cardinals worked some two out magic in the bottom half, as Carp smoked a two out double off the wall in RF to bring in KoWo. KoWo would lay down a beautiful bunt single to put runners on the corners for Daddy Wieters, who naturally slapped an infield single to Newman to score Carp to tie it 2-2, as all runners were safe. Cafecíto would pinch-hit for Hud with two down and two runners on, as Archer would send him packing with his 7th k of the game.
*The Cardinals bullpen has entered the chat*
The bullpen was the difference, outside of the 4-run 8th inning that we will get to in a second. The pen worked 5 scoreless innings (Webb* 1.1IP, Brebbia 1.2IP, Miller* 0.2IP, Martínez 1.1IP), giving up one hit, striking out 5 (3 coming from Brebbs).
Richard Rodríguez would begin the 8th inning for the Pirates, getting just one out vs the five batters he faced. Dex led off the inning with a double down the RF line, Edman would fly out to shallow RF, Goldy would drive in Dex for the 3-2 lead with an rbi single under the glove of Newman into LF, Swags then delivered the dagger– a 2-run shot into the Pirates pen to make it 5-2 Cards. Pauly Deez then hit a ball down the LF line, dropping in front of Osuna, who took an awful route to the ball, sliding when he didn’t have to and letting the ball get behind him to put Deez on 3B with still one out.
Hurdle would go to his pen, bringing in the Lindenwood graduate, Hartlieb. Carp would greet him with a sac-fly to Reynolds to extend the lead to 6-2.
That’s where this one would end, with the Cardinals snapping their 5-game skid with a 6-2 win. The Cubs lost their game to the Reds 5-2, allowing the Cardinals to gain some slight ground heading into tomorrow night’s game.
Uncle Charlie (7-8, 4.50) takes the hill in game two, matching up with Joe Musgrove (8-10, 4.69). First pitch 6:15pm c/t.
Cheers, Stew