Albert Pujols homer, Nolan Arenado RBI single lift Cardinals past Pirates
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After Johan Oviedo gave up a blast and a bloop in his first start against his former team, the Pittsburgh Pirates were looking for a bloop and a blast to beat the St. Louis Cardinals.
They got neither.
Oviedo delivered quality starts in back-to-back outings for the first time in his career but also gave up a historic homer and the go-ahead run.
The Pirates stranded Oneil Cruz on base in the ninth inning when Cardinals Gold Glove first baseman Paul Goldschmidt made a diving catch into the tarp of a pop foul for the final out.
Albert Pujols hit his 701st career home run to tie the game in the fourth inning and Nolan Arenado added an RBI single in the fifth inning as the Cardinals beat the Pirates, 2-1, Friday night at Busch Stadium.
The NL Central champion Cardinals (91-66) snapped the three-game winning streak of the Pirates (59-98), who were trying to match their season-best stretch of four consecutive wins.
Oviedo, acquired from the Cardinals in the Jose Quintana trade in August, allowed two runs on six hits and two walks while striking out four in six innings. He matched his career high with 103 pitches (66 strikes) in his first start this season, for St. Louis in a 6-1 loss on June 4 at the Chicago Cubs.
“We knew he was going to have some emotions,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said on the AT&T SportsNet postgame show. “This is the team that signed him, that he played for. Early on, it looked like he was a little bit amped up. He was able to settle down and execute against a really good lineup.”
Oviedo attempted to remove the emotions from playing against his former team and teammates, but put runners on first and third in the first inning before getting Pujols to ground out.
“I tried not bringing feelings. I’ve got a really good relationship with almost every guy on that team, including the coaches, so I tried to take feelings away,” Oviedo said. “Right now, I don’t see them as friends. Obviously, they didn’t see me as a friend. … I’m trying to keep whatever feelings I have away from me so I can win the game.”
The Pirates loaded the bases in the second inning but Jack Flaherty escaped by getting Ji Hwan Bae to ground into a forceout at second base. The Cardinals had two runners on in the third when Bae made a leaping catch of an Arenado fly ball before banging into the left field wall.
Bae came through in the top of the fourth, after Ben Gamel hit a leadoff double and advanced to third on Rodolfo Castro’s fielder’s choice. Bae laid down a bunt that rolled to second base, racing at an elite sprint speed of 30.6 feet per second to beat Brendan Donovan’s throw for a single that allowed Gamel to score for a 1-0 lead.
Shelton said that since Bae’s time with Triple-A Indianapolis the Pirates have been urging him to use the drag bunt as a weapon, so he had the green light when the Cardinals infield was playing deep in the dirt. Bae continues to impress Shelton with his big-play ability.
“Having the presence of mind in that situation to take advantage of the fact that they’re playing back for the bunt and puts down a really good bunt, which is not easy bringing it with him,” Shelton said. “Really good read for him and he did a nice job of it. You have to take chances like that. We have to take chances against good clubs. The fact that that’s part of his arsenal, he has to use it, regardless of what level.”
Pujols tied it at 1-1 in the bottom of the fourth. After fouling off three consecutive pitches, he capitalized when Oviedo hung a 1-2 slider, driving it 398 feet into Big Mac Land in left field for his 22nd home run this season. It was the fifth homer this season against the Pirates for Pujols, who hit two on May 22 and Nos. 696 and 697 at PNC Park on Sept. 10-11.
“I knew he was sitting on the slider, just because of how he was swinging earlier,” Oviedo said. “I just didn’t execute it and it got sent out of here. He didn’t miss that one.”
The Cardinals increased their lead to 2-1 in the fifth, when Arenado hit a two-out, two-strike fastball with runners on the corners for a bloop single to right to score Donovan from third.
The Pirates had two runners on base in the seventh after Bae doubled in the seventh and Cruz drew a walk against Andre Pallante but Bryan Reynolds struck out. The Cardinals brought in Giovanny Gallegos, who got Miguel Andujar to ground into a forceout.
The Pirates had runners on first and second in the eighth with two outs when pinch hitter Cal Mitchell hit a pop fly that sailed into foul territory, past the outstretched arm of Donovan but right into the glove of Lars Nootbar before both fell over the railing and into the netting.
Cruz drew a one-out walk in the ninth but Reynolds struck out and Goldschmidt caught Andujar’s pop fly as the Pirates went 2 for 10 with runners in scoring position and stranded 11 base runners.
“We played a good ballgame,” Shelton said. “We just didn’t get the big hit when we needed it.”