The Pittsburgh Pirates and St. Louis Cardinals met Saturday afternoon for game two of their three game series at PNC Park. Pittsburgh had a come from behind victory on Friday night and would do the same on Saturday. Down a run before the rain came to delay the game for an hour, the Pirates used the fifth and sixth inning to capture the win.
Wilson Contreras put St. Louis on the board in the second inning with a 424 ft. solo home run to right center. Ke’Bryan Hayes continued to swing a hot bat with a solo dinger of his own in the fifth that traveled 420 ft. to left center. Connor Joe drove in two runs with a double to left center in the sixth, then came around to score when Carlos Santana singled to left. That run was key, as the Cardinals cut the lead to one with a two-run home run by Nolan Gorman in the eighth.
Because of the rain Pittsburgh starter Luis Ortiz would only pitch two innings. That would cause the Pirates to use seven pitchers out of the bullpen to nail down the win. Dauri Moreta would collect his third win of the year after pitching 1.2 innings, allowing a hit, and striking out one batter. Colin Holderman was roughed up for two runs in the eighth, but was bailed out by Yohan Ramirez. That allowed David Bednar to earn his 12th save of the season after pitching a scoreless ninth.
St. Louis went with Jordan Montgomery to start this afternoon. He worked 5.2 innings, allowing four runs on four hits with five strikeouts and one walk. He was lifted for Jordan Hicks who collected the final out of the sixth via strikeout after allowing two hits. Steven Matz allowed two hits and struck out one batter in the seventh, which was followed up by Chris Stratton striking out the side in the eighth.
Angel Perdomo, Yerry De Los Santos, and Jose Hernandez made key contributions out of the bullpen for Pittsburgh today. This win also gives the Pirates their second consecutive series win, after not winning a series for nearly a month. These two teams will meet again on Sunday at a special start time of 11:35am on Peacock. Starters are slated to be Rich Hill and Miles Mikolas
Record vs. Cardinals: 4-2
Record vs. N.L. Central: 9-4
Record at Home: 14-13
Overall Record: 30-27
And…
As Always…
Let’s Go Bucs!
