Tuesday’s Game Report: Cardinals 5, Pirates 3
By Rob Rains
The Cardinals have been able to figure out something about the Pirates’ Paul Skenes that the rest of the major leagues has yet to learn.
The reigning NL Rookie of the Year allowed a career-high five runs on Tuesday night and lost to the Cardinals for the third time in his career in the game in Pittsburgh.
The loss left Skenes winless in four starts (he also had one no-decision) against the Cardinals since his debut last season – while going 12-1 in his 21 starts against other opponents. The only loss in those games was against the Dodgers last year.
Victor Scott II delivered the big blow in the game, a two-run triple in the third inning when the Cardinals scored three runs en route to building a 5-1 lead in six innings against Skenes.
The win snapped the Cardinals’ four-game losing streak and gave them their first road victory of the season.
Here is how Tuesday night’s game broke down:
At the plate: Pedro Pages and Masyn Winn reached on singles before Scott, hitting in the leadoff spot for the first time this year, drove them both in with his first career triple. Scott then scored on a two-out single by Brendan Donovan … Donovan also doubled and scored in the sixth off Skenes when the Cardinals picked up two insurance runs … The two hits gave Donovan 12 hits in the five games on the current road trip … Scott also doubled in the seventh but was stranded on third base … The Cardinals extended their streak to all 11 games this year scoring four or more runs. That is one game shy of the franchise record to begin a season set in 1954.
On the mound: Sonny Gray was lifted after only five innings and 71 pitches. He held the Pirates to three hits, one a home run by Bryan Reynolds. Gray struck out four and didn’t walk a batter … Steven Matz and Kyle Leahy shut out the Pirates over the next three innings but JoJo Romero allowed two runs in the ninth, when the Pirates got the tying run to the plate against Phil Maton, who got the final out on a nice running catch by Jordan Walker.
Key stat: The Cardinals’ 3-0 record against Skenes has come when he has allowed a combined eight runs in 26 2/3 innings, an ERA of 2.70, with 30 strikeouts, including seven on Tuesday night. His ERA in all of his other games is 2.02.
Worth noting: Willson Contreras had another 0-of-4 game with three strikeouts. His average is down to .093 with 21 strikeouts in 43 at-bats … The home run by Yohel Pozo on Monday night was the sixth by a Cardinals catcher this season in a combined 47 at-bats. The rest of the team has a combined 10 homers in 361 at-bats … Scott was hitting leadoff because Lars Nootbaar had the night off. Nootbaar is expected to be back in the lineup on Wednesday … The game time temperature of 38 degrees was the coldest for a Cardinals game since April 1, 2021, a 37-degree game at Cincinnati.
Up next: Erick Fedde will try to bounce back from a short outing against the Red Sox in his last start in the final game of the series and the road trip on Wednesday. First pitch is scheduled for 11:35 a.m. St. Louis time.
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