Pirates explode for 8 in the 1st, down Cards 11-6

I got called away for a family function that ran long and didn’t get home until the game was two and a half hours old. I turned on the TV to hear the announcers spreading some rumor that not only had the Pirates scored ten runs in the game, but that eight of them came in the very first inning. Unpossible! I thought, as I’d been watching for nearly two innings and had yet to see a run until David Freese lined a two-out eighth inning double to drive in Josh Bell, who had walked.

The play by play record tells me that the game started in normal fashion, as Matt Carpenter singled and Tommy Pham homered to give the Cardinals a 2-0 lead in the top of the first, before Gerrit Cole had managed to retire even a single batter.

However, Cole did get the next three batters in quick order, turning the game over the Cardinals’ starter Lance Lynn. Adam Frazier doubled. Starling Marte walked. Andrew McCutchen singled. David Freese singled in a pair. Gregory Polanco singled to reload the based. Elias Diaz singled in one. Unfortunately MLB’s record of the game does not include a gif of Lynn’s face when his centerfielder Dexter Fowler played Jordy Mercer’s short fly into a three-run triple. A walk to Frazier, the tenth batter of the inning, chased Lynn, and Marte greeted reliever Josh Lucas with a triple to drive innthe eight and final run of the inning.

Cole gave up a run in the third, and left with one out and two on in the sixth, but Andy Schugel failed to strand those runners, leaving Cole with six runs allowed on the night.

The rubber game of thseries will be Sunday afternoon while I’m watching the Steelers game.