Michael McGreevy’s command was not sharp Wednesday night against Pittsburgh, but he toughed his way through 5 innings before turning the game over to the bullpen which is where the game eventually fell apart. That combined with the St. Louis Cardinals offense finding it difficult to get runs across the plate made for an uphill challenge against a Pittsburgh Pirates team that hammered single after single and a multi-hit game from JJ Wetherholt was not enough to overcome the Bucs as they got a very solid start from Carmen Mlodzinski.
The Pittsburgh Pirates were the first to score Wednesday night as Spencer Horwitz ripped a 365 foot line drive home run down the right field line giving the Pirates a 1-0 lead in the 2nd inning. Pittsburgh would also generate a two-out rally in the top of the 4th inning when Konnor Griffin reached on an infield single followed by a walk to Rodriguez and then a single by Garcia that would score Griffin doubling the Pirates lead to 2-0.
Michael McGreevy’s lack of his typically good command would lead to his exit in the 6th inning. He gave up a trio of singles to start the 6th inning to Griffin, Rodriguez and Garcia to load the bases. Manager Oli Marmol brought in Justin Bruihl to try and get out of the bases loaded no outs jam and he did limit the damage to just one additional run giving up a sacrifice fly to Gonzalez, but nothing more holding the Pirates to just a 3-0 lead. Michael McGreevy’s final stat line for the night would be 5 innings allowing 10 hits giving up 3 earned runs with 1 strikeout and 1 walk.
The comeback Cardinals would threaten in the 6th inning when Alec Burleson smacked a one-out single to right. Jordan Walker was then hit on the right hand by a pitch and then Nolan Gorman had a great at-bat resulting in a walk to load the bases. (Walker would later leave the game, but unclear if the hit-by-pitch played a role in that) That brought up Masyn Winn who just returned to the lineup after being out for knee discomfort. Yohan Ramirez who had come into the game in the bottom of the 6th in relief unfortunately came back from a 3-0 count to strike out Winn for the 2nd out. That brought up Cesar Prieto who was assigned third base responsibilities Wednesday night. He turned on a 2-1 pitch and drove it to the right field wall where Mangum (who was busy Wednesday night) made a great sliding catch to rob Prieto of potentially a game-tying double or triple. So close.
It’s not that the Cardinals weren’t making hard contact, but what hits St. Louis did manage to tally were not timely resulting in run production. JJ Wetherholt had 2 hits. Alec Burleson and Nathan Church hat a hit apiece and Victor Scott II drove a ball into the gap for a double. The problem is that none of these hits happened with runners in scoring position.
Justin Bruihl did a great job in relief. Not only did he get the Cardinals out of a no outs bases loaded jam allowing only 1 run, but he also pitched a scoreless top of the 7th inning. Matt Svanson would take over in the 8th inning which is where the game would fall apart for the Cardinals starting with a dribbling infield hit by Konnor Griffin. He would be followed by a single from Rodriguez. Two batters later, Mangum singled to score Griffin. Gonzalez then singled scoring Rodriguez giving Pittsburgh a commanding 5-0 lead. Bryan Reynolds added to the misery by slapping a double down the left field line putting the Pirates up 7-0. Matt Pushard was given an opportunity to burn the rest of the innings for St. Louis on the mound and did a fine job allowing no more runs in the disastrous 8th inning and occupying the top of the 9th inning so no one else had to.
To add injury to insult, Alec Burleson was hit in the shin by a pitch in the bottom of the 8th inning, but he would stay in the game. Combined with Jordan Walker being hit on the hand by a pitch earlier in the game, tonight’s game was the perfect example of lots of pain, but no gain.
The St. Louis Cardinals wrap up their homestand with a day game against the Pittsburgh Pirates Thursday afternoon as they’ll try to win the series before heading to Cincinnati. Dustin May gets the start for the Cardinals while the Pirates will send Braxton Ashcraft to the mound. First pitch at Busch Stadium is set for 12:15pm central time.
