Bucs Late Two-Out Lightning Strikes Cards As Pirates Take Opener 9-4

Alex McRae got into quick one-out hot water with a flare knock and walk, but a quick around-the-horn DP turned down the heat. The Bucs didn’t get a ball out of the infield off Miles Mikolas. The Cards opened the second with a single off Redbeard’s glove and Tommy Edman homered an out later to put St. Louis up 2-0. The Pirates got a walk, DP and K. The Redbirds drew a walk for their third inning action. Fraze singled to start the Pirates off. Mikolas hung a 3-2 slider to K-Man, and he ripped a double to chase Adam home with two away and halve the lead. McCrae had a three grounder fourth for his first clean inning; so far, so good. With two gone, two walks and a Joey O knock put Buccos on every base; Jake’s fly to right kept them there. The Birds were quiet in the fifth, with a sweet sliding grab by Reynoldo in The Notch in front of the 410′ mark. It was X-Rae’s last inning. He tossed 91 pitches and did a solid job. Newman was plunked on a 1-2 pitch and Starling walked with two down before J-Bell fanned. Michael Feliz posted a walk and a whiff in the sixth. Tyler Webb spun a clean frame.

Ric Rod got the seventh inning call and gave up a solo shot to Edman. A walk and two-bagger added another tally and brought in Wei-Chung Wang, who stopped the bleeding at 4-1. John Gant gave up a leadoff rap to Tuck and K-Man walked an out later. Andrew Miller was waved in and fanned Reynolds. Starling legged out an infield bingle to pack the sacks, then J-Bell dropped a bloop over first to chase home a pair. Melky tied the game with another rap that brought on John Brebbia. The switch didn’t help the Cards; Joey O knocked in a run and Fraze tripled home a pair on a ball high off the Clemente Wall to put Pittsburgh up 7-4. Frankie Liriano worked the eighth. He was tapped for a single/double combo but no runs after some help, as Felipe came on with two outs and whiffed Edman to end the frame. Mike Mayers gave up a single to K-Man and two-bagger to Reynolds; Starling singled them both in, going to second on the throw home. J-Bell was given an intentional pass; that worked as Melky rolled into a DP. The Nightmare allowed a couple of singles before tucking the Redbirds in for the night. Raise the Roger.

Big props to Alex McRae for keeping the Bucs hanging around. And hey, maybe there will be some September relevance; the Bucs do have games with the Cards, Brewers and Cubs left. Playing spoiler would be a fun way to cruise out of an otherwise meh campaign.

Notes:

• K-Man, Starling, Joey O and Fraze each had two hits. The nine Pirates runs were scored by eight different players; six Buccos had RBI.
• The Bucs sent 10 hitters to the dish in the seventh and banged out five straight two-out hits.
• The Pirates snapped an eight-game losing streak to the Cards. It was their first win over St. Louis at PNC Park this season.
• Tommy Edman hadn’t hit a homer since August 18th; he had a pair tonight. It’s his first MLB two-dinger game.
• If you’re curious, Keone Kela was not available; he’s out on paternity leave. We believe he’s due back tomorrow.
• The announced Friday night crowd was 19,090.