Friday’s Game Report: Pirates 2, Cardinals 1
It took seven innings Friday night for the Cardinals to get the run they needed to tie up a game that they had trailed since the first batter of the game.
It took Andrew Miller only four batters to give the lead back to the Pirates. Three singles produced the eighth-inning run that gave the Pirates the win at Busch Stadium.
After scoring 17 runs on Thursday night, the Cardinals predictably had a tough offensive night. They had 11 hits with runners in scoring position on Thursday night, but went just 1-of-9 on Friday night with a man on second or third and stranded 10 runners on base.
Here is how the game broke down:
At the plate: The Cardinals had 10 hits, but all of them were singles … They loaded the bases in the first inning on two hits and a walk but left them stranded when Yadier Molina struck out … They also had runners on first and third with one out in the fifth and failed to score … They finally managed to score in the seventh when Yairo Munoz beat out an infield hit, went to third on a bloop single by Paul Goldschmidt and scored when Paul DeJong’s ground ball to the right side beat the shift for another infield hit … They had runners on first and third with nobody out in the eighth and failed to score … Goldschmidt had his second consecutive three-hit game.
On the mound: After giving up a leadoff homer to Adam Frazier, Adam Wainwright shut out the Pirates through the seventh inning, his longest outing of the season. He allowed five hits, struck out eight and did not walk a batter … Miller had made four consecutive scoreless appearances before Friday night, when he suffered his second loss of the season … Jordan Hicks, who had only pitched once in more than a week, pitched the ninth even though it was not a save situation.
Key stat: Wainwright and the Pirates’ Trevor Williams each pitched seven innings, making this the first time this season both the starting pitcher for the Cardinals and the opposing starter each pitched at least seven innings.
Worth noting: It was the third time in Wainwright’s career he allowed a home run to the first batter of the game. The other two homers were hit by Seattle’s Ichiro Suzuki in 2010 and by the Cubs’ Junior Lake in 2014 … It was the first leadoff homer by a Pirates hitter in St. Louis since Al Martin homered off Brian Barber on Oct. 1, 1995 … Carlos Martinez made his third minor-league rehab appearance on Friday night in Memphis and worked a scoreless inning. He needed just 11 pitches to get the three outs despite giving up a hit and striking out two … Top prospect Nolan Gorman celebrated his 19th birthday by hitting his eighth homer of the year for Peoria on Friday night. He leads the Midwest League in homers.
Looking ahead: Miles Mikolas will get the start in the third game of the series at 1:15 p.m. on Saturday.
