Crazy plays, errors plague Pirates against Cardinals in 8th consecutive loss
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Just when the Pittsburgh Pirates appeared run down during a seven-game losing streak, the St. Louis Cardinals made them chase them around the diamond in a rundown for the ages.
Score it a fielder’s choice 6-4-2-5-6-2.
That was part of a sequence of wild plays in the fourth inning of the Cardinals’ 3-1 win in the first game of a doubleheader Tuesday afternoon at Busch Stadium, which also included a Pirates putout reversed to a balk that put a runner back in scoring position.
It marked the eighth consecutive defeat for the Pirates.
“It was a little bit of a crazy day,” said Pirates right-hander JT Brubaker, who dealt with temperatures in the mid-to-high 90s. “You’ve just got to grab the ball, get on the mound and throw the next pitch.”
The Cardinals took a 2-0 lead in the third inning when Paul Goldschmidt homered for the second straight game against the Pirates. After Brendan Donovan hit a leadoff single, Goldschmidt drilled Brubaker’s 2-1 sinker 418 feet to center field for his 14th home run.
The fourth inning was a defensive disaster for the Pirates, as shortstop Diego Castillo made throwing errors on successive plays. Castillo fielded Yadier Molina’s grounder deep in the hole but hurried his throw, and it skipped past first baseman Michael Chavis. When Edmundo Sosa hit a routine grounder, Castillo’s throw sailed over Chavis’ outstretched glove to put runners on first and second base for Brubaker.
“He had to grind through it,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said, “because of the fact that, in some of JT’s starts, we haven’t played well defensively.”
Then things got weird. Brubaker asked for a new ball, started his delivery and then stepped off the mound. Molina, anticipating a balk call, began jogging from second to third base. The umpires never made the call, so Brubaker turned and threw Molina out at second base.
“I was just focused on that one pitch,” Brubaker said. “I kind of just blacked out on the fact that there was runners on first and second.”
Cardinals manager Oli Marmol argued the call and, after conferring, the umpire crew reversed it and sent Molina back to second base. That drew the ire of Shelton, who argued with the umpires to no avail.
“You can’t argue a balk call. You can ask about a balk call if it’s not a step-off call,” Shelton said. “The fact that all four of them had to get together, I was just making sure they got it right. It’s a good crew, and they talked about it. If it’s a situation where they have questions, they should get together. Ultimately, they got it right.”
Brubaker walked Nolan Gorman to load the bases, then chaos ensued.
Goldschmidt hit into what appeared to be a routine forceout at second base. Molina scored from third for a 3-0 Cardinals lead, and Gorman beat Castillo’s flip to Chang at second and alertly ran through the bag and made the turn. As Chang chased Gorman toward third, Edmundo Sosa ran for home plate. When Chang threw to catcher Jason Delay, Sosa turned and slid safely head-first into third to force Ke’Bryan Hayes to throw to Castillo near second. As Castillo chased Gorman back to third, Sosa broke for home again. Castillo fired on the run to Delay, and Sosa was called out when he ran outside the batter’s box to end the inning.
“The front side of that play is probably one of the most heads-up baseball plays you’ll ever see,” Shelton said. “(Gorman) ran through and made the turn so Diego couldn’t tag him. It was just a smart baseball play on a tough play that Diego made. Ultimately, we were able to get the out. The run would have scored either way. I actually thought we handled the rundown pretty well.”
Castillo, who had two errors through his first 24 games at shortstop, committed three Tuesday against the Cardinals. His third throwing error, on a Sosa grounder, put runners on first and second in the sixth.
“We watched him play shortstop (Monday) night as well as you can play it, then today he struggled on a throw or two and started to think about it,” Shelton said. “I told him to move on and keep doing what he’s doing.”
That was it for Brubaker (0-7), who allowed seven hits and two walks while striking out five on a career-high 106 pitches, including 71 strikes. Tyler Beede replaced Brubaker and walked Donovan to load the bases with one out but got Gorman looking at a called strike and Goldschmidt to ground into a forceout at second.
The Pirates finally scored when Yu Chang crushed a Gensesis Cabrera changeup for a 416-foot homer to left-center, cutting it to 3-1 in the seventh.
Bryan Reynolds drew a one-out walk off Ryan Helsley in the eighth, but Hayes struck out looking at a called third strike and pinch hitter Daniel Vogelbach was called out by third-base umpire Scott Barry on a check swing on a 3-2 slider.
Vogelbach stayed in the game and made his first appearance of the season at first base, where he booted a Sosa grounder for an error.
It marked the third time Sosa reached base by error, and he advanced to second on a wild pitch by Beede and to third on a groundout to first. Beede, however, struck out Gorman to end the inning.
The game marked the major league debuts of two Pirates. Delay started at catcher and went 1 for 2 with a walk. Outfielder Canaan Smith-Njigba pinch hit for Chang with two outs in the ninth and smacked a 1-2 pitch for a double to left-center.
Giovanny Gallegos got rookie Cal Mitchell to fly out to right field to end the game.
“I stayed in my approach,” Smith-Njigba said. “I didn’t want to be the last out of the game, so I definitely wanted to do what I can to get the next guy up. I’m just happy he threw the fastball there and I hit it and my name’s in the books.”