Pirates lose seventh in a row, fall to Cardinals 7-5

The Pittsburgh Pirates wasted a pretty solid start from Mitch Keller, as the bullpen couldn’t shut down a St. Louis Cardinals rally, and the Buccos fell 7-5 for their seventh straight defeat.

A little over a week ago, the Buccos were flying high following a sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers and a series win over the Arizona Diamondbacks. At 24-28, there were even some minor whispers of the Bucs competing for a wild card spot, but those seem wildly off base now after this latest run of losing.

Keller tried to do his part, going five and a third innings, giving up two runs on seven hits with one walk and two strikeouts, and after he started to slip a bit in the fifth, Anthony Banda came in and the bottom fell out.

Banda was credited with just one-third of an inning, giving up three runs on four hits, including a three-run dinger by Dylan Carlson that completely erased Pittsburgh’s original 5-0 lead.

The Bucs got there with a solo shot by Diego Castillo, an RBI single by Ke’Bryan Hayes, and a three-run blast by Michael Chavis.

Chavis finished 2-for-4 as the only multi-hit Pirate, and Castillo also showed off his fielding chops with this double play.

But after Banda gave up the lead, Chris Stratton came in and took the L after giving up a solo shot to Paul Goldschmidt in the seventh, and the Cards added another in the eighth on an error and there’s your final tally.

Manager Derek Shelton had this to say following the game:

“We just threw too many balls in the middle of the plate. We just have to execute pitches.”

Pittsburgh has three more games against the Cards this week, and with their well-documented struggles against St. Louis, it’s not out of the question for the losing streak to hit 10. The Pirates will be back in action today at 1:15pm.