Tuesday’s Game Report: Cardinals 9, Pirates 6 (10 innings)
By Rob Rains
Ivan Herrera was only one of the Cardinals who has been experiencing a power outage of late, but he – and the team – turned it back on in a big way on Tuesday night.
Herrera’s three-run blast in the 10th inning was the Cardinals’ fourth homer of the game and gave them a walk-off win over the Pirates at Busch Stadium.
It was Herrera’s first home run since April 25, ending a streak of 83 at-bats without hitting a home run.
The blast allowed the Cardinals to overcome a blown lead in the ninth inning, when the Pirates used two hit batters to help score two runs off Riley O’Brien and send the game to extra innings.
After hitting 41 homers in their first 31 games before the end of April, the Cardinals had only homered 10 times in the 15 games in May prior to Tuesday night. This was the second game this season with four or more homers; the other a five-homer game against the Mariners on April 25, the same day asHerrera’s last homer.
The win improved the Cardinals’ record in extra innings to 7-1 and it was their fifth walk-off win of the season.
Here is how Tuesday night’s game broke down:
At the plate: The other homers were a two-run blast by JJ Wetherholt in the third, a two-run shot from Nolan Gorman in the sixth and a solo homer by Alec Burleson in the eighth. Gorman’s homer put the Cardinals in front 5-4 before Burleson gave them a two-run lead … Their only run that didn’t score via a homer was when Gorman hit into a double play in the fourth but Burleson scored on the play … In the 10th, Victor Scott II was the automatic runner and he went to third on a leadoff single by Wetherholt before Herrera delivered the game-winning blast.
On the mound: For the second game in a row, Matthew Liberatore worked four scoreless innings before giving up four runs in the fifth. The big hit was a two-run double by Brian Reynolds as Liberatore gave up four hits, walked two and threw a wild pitch before coming out of the game after retiring only two of the eight hitters he faced in the inning … Liberatore did set a career high with nine strikeouts, fanning seven of the first 11 hitters he faced … O’Brien suffered the blown save in the ninth, allowing a leadoff single before hitting the next two batters. A double play brought in the first run and Spencer Horwitz tied the game with a two-out, pinch-hit single.
Key stat: With the home run and single giving him two hits in four at-bats, plus a walk, Wetherholt continued to pound his hometown team. In his first five games against the Pirates, Wetherholt has eight hits in 20 at-bats, including three home runs.
Worth noting: An MRI on Masyn Winn’s left knee came back clean, the Cardinals said. Winn came out of Sunday’s game because of discomfort in his knee. The surgery Winn had at the end of last season was on his right knee. He might be able to play on Wednesday night … Lars Nootbaar’s rehab assignment was moved from Palm Beach to Triple A Memphis and he was hitless in three at-bats, striking out once, at Iowa on Tuesday night.
Up next: Michael McGreevy will get the start on Wednesday night in the second game of the three-game series.
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