Monday’s Game Report: Pirates 8, Cardinals 4
By Rob Rains
The Cardinals saw their streak of getting 10 or more hits snapped after nine games on Monday night. Their streak of struggling performances out of their pitching staff continued, however.
Matthew Liberatore became the first starter to get an out in the seventh inning this season but he was charged with five runs and the Pirates picked up the victory in the opener of a three-game series in Pittsburgh.
The Cardinals have allowed 69 runs in their first 10 games with a staff ERA of 6.18, the highest in the major leagues.
The loss was the fourth in a row and sixth in the last seven games for the Cardinals after they started the season 3-0.
Here is how Monday night’s game broke down:
At the plate: The Cardinals had nine hits and fell one hit shy of tying the major-league record of 10 consecutive games with 10 or more hits to begin the season, set by the 1999 Indians. They did extend their streak of scoring four runs or more to all 10 games, the second longest streak to begin a year in franchise history. The record is 12 games by the 1954 Cardinals … Yohel Pozo homered in his first game since being called up from Memphis and Masyn Winn also hit his first home run of the year … Brendan Donovan had three hits for the second consecutive game, driving in one run … Lars Nootbaar was 0-of-4 and is 1-of-14 in his last three games … Willson Contreras also was 0-of-4 and is 4-of-39 for the season.
On the mound: The Pirates bunched four hits in the span of six batters to score three runs in the second inning off Liberatore, who also gave up a homer to Joey Bart in the first … Liberatore allowed only two hits from the third through the sixth innings and left with a runner on base in the seventh who came around to score against Chris Roycroft in the Pirates’ four-run inning. Roycroft only retired two of the six hitters he faced, one of a sacrifice fly.
Key stat: The combined ERA for the Cardinals’ starters is 6. 52, having allowed 36 earned runs in 49 2/3 innings. The combined ERA for the bullpen is 5.97, with 27 earned runs allowed in 40 2/3 innings.
Worth noting: Medical examinations on Monday jn St. Louis found that Ivan Herrera has a bone bruise on his left knee that will sideline him for at least a month. Pedro Pages will get the bulk of the catching assignments in Herrera’s absence although Pozo started on Monday night after Pages had to catch 16 innings in Sunday’s doubleheader because of Herrera’s injury … Pozo was signed by the Cardinals in January as a minor-league free agent. To open a spot for Pozo on the 40-man roster, pitcher Zack Thompson was moved to the 60-day injured list … Nolan Arenado was scratched from the lineup because of illness and general soreness … Victor Scott II got his first day off after starting the first nine games.
Up next: Sonny Gray will start on Tuesday night in the second game of the series. Paul Skenes is the scheduled starter for the Pirates.
Follow Rob Rains on X @RobRains
