Summary
Paul Skenes and a host of Pirate relievers shut down the Cardinals, holding them to only a solo HR by Alec Burleson. A likewise effective Cardinal starter-follower combination matched Skenes when Leahy and Hjerpe combined to give up one run. Consistent with the theme of the season, bullpen hijinks allowed the Pirates to capture the winning running without benefit of a hit.
Pre-game Notes
- Leahy is the opener, to be followed by Hjerpe.
- Skenes for the Pirates. Lots of hype around the narrative he’s not as good, but still a 4+ fWAR pitcher. Cardinals could use one of those.
- Springfield closed out their season last night with a loss in the AA Texas League Championship finals.
- Memphis continues their season for one more game with a lopsided win last night in the AAA International League Championship finals.
- Let’s see. Day game. Check. Getaway day. Check. Eliminated. Check. I’m thinking quicker game with lots of swings today. A team has to grind against Skenes, so I think the scenario plays his way.
- Today may be a new normal line-up. With the exception of Torres in LF and perhaps Saggese at 3B, this could be a form of line-up we see next year.
The first inning
Burleson gets the Cardinals off to an early lead with a long, solo HR (104.6 mph). Walker K’s on a well off the plate sweeper, notable only because this has been happening a lot lately (again). Contributor BigJawnMize likes to observe that AA is the level where hitters learn not to swing at outside sliders and sweepers. Seemed like he had muted that tendency, but it is disquieting to see this re-appear. The Pirates quickly respond, accumulating a double and two singles to net a run to tie the game at 1-1.
The middle innings
The game remained tied at 1-1 for much of the rest of the afternoon. Leahy departed after two innings and 3 K’s. Hjerpe followed with 3.1 shutout innings with 3 K’s. Three hits and three walks added traffic to his innings, but he worked around that well. Graceffo finished the sixth with a K. Mautz got through the seventh without drama.
Skenes pitched into the seventh, leaving only after accumulating his 200th K of the season (and eighth of the game). A line of Pirate relievers (Ramirez, Soto, Weaver, Montgomery) continued Skenes’ mastery.
The decisive and bitter end
Stanek relieves in the eighth. A quick flyball portends, but a walk quickly follows. A following wild pitch (which seems to be a Cardinal reliever specialty) combined with an ill-advised and poor throw puts the runner on third where he scored an unearned run moments later on a SacFly by Horowitz. Yet another walk continues the inning. But a ground out ends the inning with the Pirates leading 2-1.
Montgomery comes in to close the game out. He strikes out the side. Pirates win 2-1.
The eighth inning reminds me of a comment Oli made this spring about their margin for error being slim…that they needed to be really good at not missing opportunities or shooting themselves in the foot. Realistically, they will need more talent to give them more margin for errors and mistakes that naturally occur in this game. In the meantime, when it comes to cleaning up their play, it’s not clear to me that they’ve improved over the season.
Post-game notes
- Cardinals on to Milwaukee for the last series of the season. I’ve always thought it would feel odd to finish the season on the road, but in reality, most of the players are on the road the whole six months. Tomorrow, they get to go home, wherever home is.
- For what it is worth, it appears that the Cubs will have something to play for this weekend. They have still not clinched, which suggests that Cub fans have likely clenched. Their inconsistency appears to be rearing its ugly head at a bad time (for them).
- Organizational meetings and off-season planning sessions begin in earnest soon.
- Been lots of comments that the Cardinals need to acquire a TOR pitcher. Can’t disagree, but I keep coming back to … what exactly constitutes a TOR pitcher? Been considering an article on that, with a data deep dive. In comments, tell me what kind of stats you expect to see with a pitcher who is TOR.
