The Pittsburgh Pirates and St. Louis Cardinals wrapped up their four-game series at PNC Park this afternoon. Pittsburgh won game one, but dropped the next two. It looked like St. Louis was on their way to taking a third game, but Yoshi Tsutsugo came through with a walk off home run to give his team a spilt of this series.
Wil Crowe made the start for the Pirates and lasted five innings. He would allow three runs on five hits, to go with four strikeouts and three walks. Tyler O’Neill started the scoring when he connected on an RBI triple to right in the third inning. The other two runs allowed by Crowe came in the fifth when Tommy Edman hit a two-run home run to right center.
Pittsburgh scored their first run of the day in the fourth inning off Cardinals starter Kwang Hyun Kim. Tsutsugo hit a sac fly to left to bring in Ke’Bryan Hayes. Hayes would leave the game early with hand discomfort. Hopefully he will not miss too much time after missing most of the early part of the season with an injury.
Up until the bottom of the ninth inning, both bullpens did an excellent job keeping the opposing team off the board. Through four innings of work St. Louis would use three pitchers out of the pen. They would combine to strikeout out four and walk one, while not allowing a hit. Chad Kuhl pitched two innings, allowing one hit to go with three strikeouts and one walk. David Bednar struck out one while pitching the eighth, and Chris Stratton struck out the side in the ninth for the Pirates.
All of this would lead up to the bottom of the ninth when Tsutsugo stepped to the plate with two runners on, one out, and his team down by a pair. He would launch a ball 422 ft. over the Clemente Wall in right field, off of relief pitcher Alex Reyes, to lift Pittsburgh to a 4-3 victory to close out the home stand. This also marked the final time these two teams would play during the 2021 regular season.
Even with the end of the season on the horizon and the Pirates well out of a playoff race, it is always exciting to see the team you cheer for win with a walk off home run. After an off day on Monday, Pittsburgh will hit the road for their next six games. All of them will take place in the Windy city, as they will take on the Chicago White Sox for two games before heading across town for a four-game set with the Chicago Cubs.
Record vs. Cardinals: 7-12
Record vs. N.L. Central: 17-43
Record at Home: 28-43
Overall Record: 48-83
And…
As Always…
Let’s Go Bucs!
