Pirates fall to Cardinals in 10 innings to lose 100th game of season
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It required nearly four hours, extra innings and a failed challenge on a call at home plate in the 10th inning before the Pittsburgh Pirates suffered the ignominious milestone of their 100th loss of the season.
The Pirates took command with a six-run, eight-hit third inning only to blow a four-run lead in the seventh. Juan Yepez singled off Chase DeJong to right to score automatic runner Ben DeLuzio from second in the top of the 10th, lifting the St. Louis Cardinals to an 8-7 win Tuesday night before an announced 12,842 at PNC Park.
The Pirates (61-100) reached triple-digit defeats for the second consecutive season after going 61-101 last year. It marked the first time they suffered back-to-back 100-loss campaigns since the early 1950s, when they went 42-112-1 in 1952, 50-104 in 1953 and 53-101 in 1954.
“It sucks, obviously,” Pirates third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes said. “We were just coming in to play hard and win the ballgame. At the end of the game, whatever result that is, it is. I don’t think guys are coming in thinking, ‘Oh man, if we lose it’s another 100-loss season.’”
Asked if enduring a 100th loss has an impact on the club’s rebuilding plans, Pirates manager Derek Shelton was pointed in his answer: “No, it has no impact.”
The play that impacted the outcome came with one out in the bottom of the 10th, when Oneil Cruz hit a sharp grounder that glanced off the glove of first baseman Alec Burleson and ricocheted to second baseman Brendan Donovan. Automatic runner Kevin Newman made a head-first slide, trying to beat both Donovan’s throw to home plate and catcher Andrew Knizner’s tag.
Newman thought he touched the plate before he was tagged but home plate umpire Brennan Miller called him out. Shelton challenged the call, hoping to get it reversed for a tied game. Video reviews made it appear that Newman maneuvered his hand under Knizer’s tag to touch the plate.
“I think he was safe,” Shelton said. “I think whatever they called on the field was going to stand. But yeah, I thought he got his hand in.”
The call was upheld after video review due to insufficient evidence to overturn the call. Newman didn’t hide his disappointment.
“Honestly, I thought we were gonna get it overturned,” Newman said. “I just thought he didn’t tag me until he got higher up my body. Obviously, they didn’t agree so we didn’t get it overturned.”
Cruz stole second base and advanced to third on Knizner’s errant throw, putting the tying run 90 feet from home plate before Bryan Reynolds grounded out to first base to end the game. The Pirates were trying to win by walk-off for the second consecutive game, after Cruz drew a four-pitch, bases-loaded walk for a 3-2 win on Monday night.
Before the game, the Pirates activated right-hander JT Brubaker from the 15-day injured list so he could make one more start. To make room on the active roster, they optioned rookie right-hander Roansy Contreras, who started Sunday. The Pirates also recalled infielder/outfielder Tucupita Marcano and optioned catcher Jose Godoy.
The Pirates gave Brubaker a 1-0 cushion in the first inning on Miguel Andujar’s groundout to third base to score Cruz.
Brubaker gave up successive singles to Paul DeJong, Donovan and Lars Nootbaar to load the bases with one out for Paul Goldschmidt, whose hit a dribbler three feet in front of home plate. Pirates catcher Tyler Heineman pounced, leaving the plate unprotected for DeJong to score the tying run as he threw out Goldschmidt. Pujols followed with a two-run single through the middle for a 3-1 Cardinals lead.
The Pirates answered with six runs on eight hits in the bottom of the third, both their most hits and runs in a game this season, thanks to a season-high five consecutive hits.
Ji Hwan Bae hit a leadoff single, raced to third on a Reynolds double and scored on Dakota Hudson’s wild pitch to make it 3-2.
Reynolds started the hit parade. Rodolfo Castro hit a flare to left to score Reynolds to tie the game, and Miguel Andujar followed with a double to the left-center gap to score Castro for a 4-3 Pirates lead. Jack Suwinski singled to right to score Andujar, then scored on Ben Gamel’s single to right for a 6-3 lead. Bae hit a dribbler and beat Hudson’s throw to first, allowing Hayes to score to make it 7-3.
Shelton pointed to DeJong making a stop on a Cruz single that prevented another run from scoring as a pivotal play.
“The main play in that inning was the ball DeJong kept in the infield,” Shelton said. “He keeps it in the infield with Heineman coming around third and it actually saves a run. That ends up being the game because of the fact if we have an extra run there we win the game.”
Bryse Wilson kept the Cardinals without another run until the seventh, when Knizner doubled to left and scored on Donovan’s single. The Pirates turned to Duane Underwood Jr., who recorded three strikeouts but gave up a two-run double to Corey Dickerson that cut the Pirates’ lead to one run. Alec Burleson hit a grounder to short that Cruz bobbled, then threw over Gamel at first base to allow Dickerson to score the tying run.
The Pirates had runners on first and second in the ninth inning against former teammate Chris Stratton, dealt to the Cardinals with Jose Quintana on Aug. 1, after Suwinski drew a one-out walk and Hayes followed with a single to left. Stratton got Gamel looking at a called third strike on a full-count curveball on the outside corner, and Newman popped out to DeJong.
Afterward, Newman was asked where the Pirates go from here.
“Up,” Newman said. “I mean, that’s the direction we want to go. It is just a number. It’s unfortunate. Obviously, nobody wants to come out and lose 100 games. We have to focus on coming back and working to get that number down and get as many wins as we can (next year).”