Friday’s Game Report: Cardinals 4, Pirates 1
By Rob Rains
With a depleted rotation and a tired bullpen, the Cardinals needed Quinn Mathews to do exactly what he did on Friday night.
Because of that, Mathews was able to celebrate his first career victory.
Mathews pitched into the sixth inning, allowing only one run, and his minor-league batterymate the last two seasons, Jimmy Crooks, hit a two-run homer to help the Cardinals defeat the Pirates in the series-opener at Busch Stadium.
Making his fourth start in the majors and his first at home, Mathews shut out the Pirates for the first four innings, gave up a run in the fifth and left the game after getting two outs in the sixth.
Mathews struck out seven, scattered five hits and only walked one.
The win lifted the Cardinals back to the .500 mark for the season at 68-68.
Here is how Friday night’s game broke down:
At the plate: Crooks’ homer in the third followed a double by Nolan Gorman … Nathan Church increased the lead to 3-0 with a sacrifice fly in the fourth and they added an insurance run in the eighth when Jordan Walker – who had three singles – scored on a throwing error, the Pirates’ third error of the game … Alec Burleson went 0-of-4, snapping his 13-game hitting streak.
On the mound: The only runner allowed by Mathews in the first three innings came via a walk, and he was erased in a double play … Mathews was able to strand runners on first and third in the fourth before he hit a batter with one out in the fifth and he came around to score on a two-out single … Ryan Fernandez worked two scoreless innings … The Cardinals got a break when Bryan Reynolds was retired when he was hit by a ball hit by Oneil Cruz off of Caleb Ferguson as he was running between first and second to end the eighth inning … Ryne Stanek worked a perfect ninth with two strikeouts to record his first save since opening day.
Worth noting: As expected Blaze Jordan was placed on the injured list because of the sprained ankle he suffered in the game on Thursday. Thomas Saggese was recalled from Memphis … The home run by Crooks extended the Cardinals’ streak with at least one homer to 11 consecutive games.
Up next: Kyle Leahy will get the start in the second game of the series at 1:15 p.m. on Saturday.
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