Cardinals Clobber Pirates 10-1

Steven Brault survived a walk and wild pitch in the opening frame. B-Rey singled with an out and was tossed out, after review, at second; Starling followed with a triple and J-Bell walked, but Waino got away with a zero on the board thanks to happy feet. For a little variety, Steven plunked a batter before uncorking another wild pitch in the second, but still no blood drawn. The Pirates went down 1-2-3. Wainwright doubled to start the third, and two singles, a balk, and a Marcell Ozuna homer later, it was 4-0. J-Bell misflipped a ball afterward, but a DP put an end to the frame. K-Man singled, stole second running on a full count, and came home on Starling’s rap. The bottom of the Cards order went down in order in the fourth. Fraze singled for all the Bucco action. Three grounders put away St Louis in the fifth. Steven led off with a knock for the Bucs; a DP and whiff shut that down in a hurry.

The Bucs went clang in the sixth. A walk, passed ball, Joey O dropped fly, single, steal, and single brought in two runs and Clay Holmes. He allowed a swipe but fanned the next pair to leave it at 6-1. Pittsburgh had no response. A walk sandwiched around a pair of two-baggers added two more tallies to the Redbird ledger in the seventh. The Pirates went down without a peep. Geoff Hartlieb toed the slab in the eighth. Two walks, a wild pitch, and a single packed the sacks, but Geoff escaped without a score. Junior Fernandez took the ball and put the Buccos away without raising a sweat. Parker Markel worked the ninth. He was roughed up for two more runs, and it was 10-1 Cards with three outs to go. Daniel Ponce de Leon climbed the hill and struck out the side to add a little salt to the wound.

Let’s see -  181 pitches, 10 runs, 11 hits, five walks, two plunked batters, three wild pitches, a balk, a passed ball, two errors…ah, yes, September baseball in Pittsburgh.

Notes:

• Starling had two hits; the Pirates had six overall and no other Bucco reached base safely more than once.
• The announced gate was 23,996 at the ol’ park.
• Going into tonight, the Pirates DRS (Defensive Runs Saved) was -45. Only the Mets are worse with the leather in the NL.