Pirates Walloped By Cards 17-4

Joe Musgrove was lit up for 8 runs in 3+ innings and the Pirates started their 11 game road trip with a 17-4 loss in St. Louis.

Clay Holmes came on in relief of Musgrove and allowed three runs in two IP in his first major league outing of 2019. Dovydas Neverausakas entered in the sixth and finished with five runs on his ledger in his inning of work.

The seventh and eighth were manned by Montana DuRapau, who made his MLB debut. He allowed a run on three hits and struck out one.

Every Cardinal starter besides winning pitcher Michael Wacha (3-0) scored or drove in at least two runs. Musgrove falls to 1-4 on the season.

Offensively, Gregory Polanco had a homer, two doubles, a walk and three RBI. Josh Bell extended his hitting streak to nine with a first inning single. Melky Cabrera’s streak ends at 12.

For the masochists among us, the video highlights can be found here.

On Deck

Trevor Williams (1-1, 3.74) will try to get the Pirates back on track Friday at 8:15 p.m. Eastern time. Adam Wainwright (3-3, 4.71) will go for the Cardinals.

NUMB3RS

1. This is the first time the Pirates have allowed at least 17 runs since July 6, 2018 against the Phillies (17-5).

2. All five of the batted balls against Neverauskas had an exit velocity of at least 99 MPH, per Baseball Savant.

3. Josh Bell has seven barrels in his last five games played, per Baseball Savant.