Monday’s Game Report: Cardinals 4, Pirates 2
By Rob Rains
JJ Wetherholt has had some special moments already in the first month of his major-league career – and he had another one on Monday night.
Playing his first MLB game at PNC Park, 30 miles south of his hometown of Mars, Pa., Wetherholt’s homer in the ninth inning tied the game as the Cardinals scored four runs in the inning to stun the Pirates.
The rally came after the Cardinals did not have a baserunner until there were two outs in the seventh inning. It also snapped a streak of 36 consecutive scoreless innings for the Cardinals in Pittsburgh.
With one out in the ninth, and the Cardinals down 2-0, Pedro Pages broke that drought with a home run to cut the lead to 2-1 and Wetherholt followed with his sixth home run of the season, thrilling family and friends at the game, including the West Virginia baseball team – where Wetherholt was the star just two years ago.
It was the third consecutive game with a home run for Wetherholt.
With the game tied, Ivan Herrera drew a walk, Alec Burleson had an infield single and Jordan Walker drew another walk to load the bases before Jose Fermin doubled into the left-field corner to send the Cardinals to the improbable victory.
The win snapped a four-game losing streak. It was the 10th comeback win for the Cardinals out of their total of 15 wins.
Here is how Monday night’s game broke down:
At the plate: Facing four pitchers in the Pirates’ bullpen game, the first 20 Cardinals’ batters were retired before Burleson beat out a slow roller to third for their first hit with two outs in the seventh … Fermin, pinch-hitting for Nolan Gorman, got the Cardinals’ second hit when he led off the eighth with a single but he was erased in a double play … It was their second win in a game when they were losing going to the ninth inning.
On the mound: Dustin May allowed a run in each of the first two innings but kept the Pirates from adding to that lead through the sixth inning. He scattered seven hits, walked two and struck out two … Ryan Fernandez, the most-rested Cardinals reliever, worked two perfect innings in the seventh and eighth, recording four consecutive strikeouts … With Riley O’Brien and JoJo Romero unavailable, George Soriano got the save opportunity and pitched around a two-out single in the ninth, retiring Konnor Griffin on a fly to center for the final out.
Key stat: In their first 27 games of the season, the Cardinals had hit only one home run in the ninth inning, by Ivan Herrera on April 22 in Miami, before getting the back-to-back homers by Pages and Wetherholt.
Worth noting: Wetherholt had played three games at PNC Park while he was in college … The Cardinals claimed lefthanded pitcher Luis Peralta off waivers from Colorado on Monday and assigned him to Memphis. He had been pitching in Triple A. Peralta, 25, is the younger brother of the Mets’ Freddy Peralta … Pages was back in the lineup after having to come out of the game on Saturday because of tightness in his hamstring …Hunter Dobbins will be recalled from his rehab assignment at Memphis to make a spot start on Thursday opposite Paul Skenes.
Up next: Kyle Leahy will get the start on Tuesday night in the second game of the four-game series.
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