It was a beautiful late season night at PNC Park, as the Pittsburgh Pirates and St. Louis Cardinals played in the middle game of their three-game series. Pittsburgh took game one, but St. Louis would use a late inning surge to pull out a 7-5 victory and even this series.
The Pirates jumped out to an early lead in the first inning on a 403 ft. solo home run to deep center by Rodolfo Castro. That lead jumped to three runs an inning later when Jack Suwinski hit a 382 ft. two run home run to right. Those runs were charged to Cardinals starter Jack Flaherty who worked five innings tonight.
St. Louis worked their way back into the game and it started in the fifth inning. Brendan Donovan hit a solo homer to right. One inning later Albert Pujols hit a two-run home run to tie the game at three. This homer would be the 696th for Pujols, tying him with Alex Rodriguez for 4th on the all-time list. JT Brubaker was responsible for those three runs over six innings.
Pittsburgh retook the lead in the seventh when Oneil Cruz hit a solo home run to right. Pujols tied the game at four in the eighth with an RBI single to center. The Cardinals blew the game open in the top of the ninth with three runs. Those runs all scored on a Nolan Arenado double with the bases loaded. Wil Crowe allowed all of those runs and picked up his ninth loss of the season in the process.
The Pirates got one more run in the bottom of the ninth when Bryan Reynolds drove in Cal Mitchell with a single to right. It has been over a month since Pittsburgh has won a series and they will have a shot to do that tomorrow afternoon at 1:35pm in the finale of this series.
Record vs. Cardinals: 3-9
Record vs. N.L. Central: 24-34
Record at Home: 28-42
Overall Record: 51-87
And…
As Always…
Let’s Go Bucs!
