Pirates waste Martin Perez's strong start, as Cardinals clinch series with 10-inning win

The Pittsburgh Pirates were attempting to pull off some extra-inning magic for the second consecutive game against the St. Louis Cardinals and had a perfect opportunity in the bottom of the 10th inning.

Andrew McCutchen came to the plate with runners on first and second and the Pirates trailing by one, only for Cardinals lefty John King to get him to ground into a game-ending forceout at second base.

The Pirates wasted a strong start by lefty Martin Perez and a chance to win the three-game series against an NL Central rival, as the Cardinals pulled off a 3-2 victory Thursday afternoon before 20,990 at PNC Park.

The loss drops the Pirates (41-45) behind the Cincinnati Reds and into fourth place in the NL Central, four games behind St. Louis (45-41) in the division standings and the NL wild-card race.

Perez and Cardinals righty Andre Pallante engaged in a seven-inning duel that left the score deadlocked at 1-1, forcing extra innings for the second consecutive game after the Pirates beat the Cardinals, 5-4, in the 10th inning Wednesday night.

In his second start since missing a month with a strained left groin, Perez held the Cardinals to one run on six hits and one walk, had two strikeouts (both looking) to end the fifth and sixth innings, and induced three double plays, including one with a runner on third in the sixth.

“When you get a start like that, you want to capitalize on it,” said Pirates left fielder Bryan Reynolds, whose solo homer in the fourth inning provided their only run in regulation. “And we weren’t able to today.”

The Cardinals took a two-run lead in the 10th when automatic runner Michael Siani advanced to third on Jose Fermin’s groundout and scored on a Pedro Pages double off Dennis Santana that bounced past diving center fielder Michael A. Taylor for a 2-1 lead. Alec Burleson poked a flare to left to drive in Pages to make it 3-1.

“I was playing pretty shallow, so I felt like that was my only shot to cut the ball off,” Taylor said. “I would do it over again.”

Pirates manager Derek Shelton deferred that decision to Taylor, a 2021 AL Gold Glove winner with the Kansas City Royals: “I think you’ve got to trust an outfielder that’s won a Gold Glove and is leading baseball (center fielders) in defensive runs saved.”

Taylor answered with assertive baserunning in the bottom of the 10th to cut it to 3-2, tagging from second base when Nick Gonzales hit a 399-foot sacrifice fly to the warning track at the North Side Notch. When left fielder Brendan Donovan paused before throwing it in, Taylor scored.

Pinch hitter Jared Triolo slapped a two-out single to left, and Joey Bart hit a liner up the middle before McCutchen hit a sharp grounder to shortstop Masyn Winn, who flipped it to second base for the forceout.

It was only the fourth time in 13 starts that Perez surpassed six innings this season and only the second time he took the mound in the eighth. He pitched eight innings against the Detroit Tigers on April 9, a game the Pirates lost 5-3 after David Bednar allowed four runs in the ninth.

Perez said he worked on his release point in a bullpen session because he was “too on top of the ball” and it was pushing his fastball inside. This time, his sinker played to perfection, as he got 21 swings on 41 pitches.

“I was looking to have an outing like this one for a long time. Everything was working,” Perez said. “It was a great game. We played good. That’s what happens. They were just lucky at the end, but that’s part of the game.”

The only run Perez allowed was unearned, though it came after his own error. The Cardinals capitalized with two outs in the second inning, when Brendan Donovan hit a grounder that first baseman Rowdy Tellez fielded and fired a sidearm throw to Perez, whose foot wasn’t touching the bag. It proved costly when Dylan Carlson doubled to the left-field corner to drive in Donovan and give the Cardinals a 1-0 lead.

The Pirates might have spared Perez a run in the fourth, when Willson Contreras hit a leadoff double and attempted to steal third base. Contreras was called out by third base umpire Mike Estabrook when Pirates catcher Yasmani Grandal fired a throw to Ke’Bryan Hayes, who applied the tag.

But the Cardinals made a late challenge, which caused Shelton to argue with crew chief Laz Diaz. The call stood, even though replays showed that Contreras appeared to slide under Hayes’ tag. Paul Goldschmidt followed with a single to left, then stole second base but Perez got Nolan Arenado to fly out to center and Donovan to ground out to first to strand Goldschmidt in scoring position.

Reynolds tied the score at 1-1 in the bottom of the fourth by drilling Pallante’s first-pitch cutter 427 feet into the hedges beyond the center-field fence for his 14th home run.

Pallante allowed one run on four hits and one walk in seven innings before being replaced in the eighth by righty Andrew Kittredge, who took the loss in Wednesday’s 5-4 win in 10 innings.

Suwinski hit a 394-foot fly ball to the North Side Notch that bounced at the warning track and over the left-center fence for an automatic double. Kittredge then appeared to hit pinch hitter Joshua Palacios, recalled Thursday from Triple-A Indianapolis, in the left foot with a 1-2 slider. But the Cardinals challenged, and the call was overturned after a video review, only for Palacios to draw a full-count walk.

But Kittredge struck out McCutchen on a full-count fastball just above the zone, then battled through an 11-pitch at-bat to get Reynolds swinging at a 92-mph four-seamer to end the frame.

Pirates setup man Colin Holderman, who gave up the tying home run in the eighth inning Wednesday, entered in the ninth and struck out Contreras and Goldschmidt before Arenado reached on a controversial call. Arenado hit a dribbler down the first-base line that Holderman fielded but lost the ball while tagging Arenado as he ran by. Holderman tossed a backhanded flip to Tellez to get Arenado out, but the Cardinals challenged the call, and it was overturned upon review.

Donovan followed with a double to right to put runners on second and third base, but Holderman froze pinch hitter Matt Carpenter with a sweeper low and inside for a called third strike to escape the jam. King retired the side in order in the bottom of the ninth for the Cardinals to send the game into extra innings.

For Shelton, his biggest frustration was that two of the Pirates’ longest hits went to the deepest part of the ballpark, resulting in Suwinski’s double and a Gonzales sacrifice fly. Suwinski’s shot would have been a home run in 12 of 30 major league ballparks, and Gonzales’ sac fly would have cleared the fence in 24 of 30.

“They stayed in the yard,” Shelton said. “So there’s nothing we can do. The ball Jack hit and bounced out was in the same spot. That’s a homer in every other place. We had some good at-bats, and we hit two balls to the wrong part of the park.”