The St. Louis Cardinals defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates 7-2 tonight to complete a two-game doubleheader sweep.
Chad Kuhl looked sharp early on as he retired nine of the first ten batters he faced. In the fourth, Kuhl gave his first run after Paul DeJong singled in Tommy Edman. The Cardinals led 1-0 after four.
In the top of the fifth, Bryan Reynolds gave the Pirates a 2-1 lead when he deposited a two-run dinger into the Allegheny. It was his fifth home run of the year. That would be the Pirates’ only offense on the night. As a team, they registered four total hits.
The wheels fell off for the Pirates in the bottom of the sixth inning.
*Oh yeah, in case you were wondering, the Cardinals were the home team at PNC Park in tonight’s matchup because 2020 baseball.*
Anyways, Edman led off the sixth with a walk. Paul Goldschmidt then reached on a catcher’s interference. After a Brad Miller walk, Kuhl’s night was done. With the bases loaded and no outs, Chris Stratton entered the game and immediately allowed a DeJong sacrifice fly to tie the score at two. Tyler O’Neill and Matt Carpenter each hit into fielders’ choices that each scored a run. 4-2 Cardinals. Dylan Carlson broke the game wide open with a three-run shot to give the Cardinals a 7-2 lead. They would win by that score.
Because of the catcher’s interference, the Pirates allowed just one earned run on the night.
Tomorrow, the Pirates will attempt to tie this five-game series up as Mitch Keller will oppose Kwang-Hyun Kim.
The first pitch is at 7:05.