Final Score: Pirates 5 Cardinals 0
Why The Pirates Won: The old adage of there are horses for courses is so true of Martin Perez. In 3 of his last 5 starts he has given up 17 runs all earned. The other 2 starts are against the St. Louis Cardinals, going 13 and 1/3 innings, giving up 1 run. The Pirates just need him to face the Cardinals. He was far from dominant or in control. He gave up 4 hits and walked 5 batters in 6 innings of work but gave up no runs. The Cardinals gave their best Pirate impersonation going 0 for 5 with runners in scoring position and stranding 11 runners for the game. The Pirate offense with the help of the Cardinals was able to put up 4 runs in the 2nd inning. Rawhide Rowdy Tellez homered in the 4th inning to stretch the lead to 5-0. In the other 6 innings they did not get a hit and wound up only getting 5 hits for the game. Quite frankly, the way both teams performed in this series, I do not see either team making the playoffs, unless they make some major moves at the trade deadline. Regardless the Pirates managed to somehow take the series and are now 2 games over .500 after a 4-2 homestand.
Key Moments Of The Game: The top of the 5th summed up the Cardinals' frustration, perfectly. The Cardinals got 2 singles and 2 walks in the inning and failed to score. After the first walk of the inning, Lars Nootbaar grounded into a double play. Two singles and a walk later the Cardinals had the bases loaded. Willson (That's Right Two L's) Contreras came to the plate. He swung at the first pitch that was outside the strike zone. On the second pitch Perez got a borderline call to make the count 0-2. The next pitch was in the dirt. Contreras swung at the next pitch that was off the plate away and grounded it to third where Ke'Bryan Hayes made the play, and the inning was over. Perez pitched around a 1 out double in the 6th and the Pirates bullpen danced through some raindrops the last 3 innings but they preserved the shutout. The Pirates head to road next.
Next Game: Tomorrow night, the Diamondbacks in Arizona. Surprisingly the Pirates have their rotation set for the series. Luis Ortiz, Marco Gozales and Mitch Keller are penciled in to start. Then the Pirates go to Houston. Both of these teams have very similar records as the Pirates. The Astros have been playing much better lately after getting off to a bad start that saw them dip 12 games below .500. If the Pirates can go 3-3 this would be a very successful road trip.
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