Text Size:
A|
A|
A
Email
Print
ST. LOUIS -- All through a long, long night, the Pirates and St. Louis Cardinals combined for plenty of potent pitching and dynamite defense.
But big hits?
There were none of those, nothing but singles until St. Louis pinch-hitter Ryan Ludwick opened the 10th inning with a double into left field off Javier Lopez.
And runs?
All anyone needed was one, and the Cardinals got that, too, on Brendan Ryan's walkoff infield single that set down the Pirates, 1-0, early this morning at Busch Stadium.
After Lopez, pitching on a third consecutive day, gave up Ludwick's hit, the rest of the hits barely were audible: Yadier Molina bunted Ludwick to third, and Ryan swatted a grounder into the drawn-in infield. Second baseman Neil Walker lunged low to his left and nearly scooped it, but it skipped away.
"It's unfortunate," manager John Russell said.
Game: Pirates vs. St. Louis Cardinals, 7:22 p.m., Busch Stadium.
TV, radio: FSN Pittsburgh, WPGB-FM (104.7).
Pitching: RHP Daniel McCutchen (1-4, 8.58) vs. RHP Jeff Suppan (0-6, 6.18).
Key matchup: McCutchen vs. Albert Pujols, Matt Holliday and anyone else with power. He has given up 10 home runs in just 28 1/3 innings this season.
Of note: Suppan probably needs a decent showing to stay in the St. Louis rotation, but opponents are batting .359 with 11 home runs in 67 innings.
Few in the visitors' clubhouse would dispute that characterization.
"It's not a good feeling after how hard everyone battled," starter Jeff Karstens said.
"It stinks to lose that one," catcher Erik Kratz said.
And yet, the Pirates, especially in the context of building with a rookie core, might eventually appreciate this evening -- and morning -- more for matching the contending Cardinals at their own pitching-and-fundamental game right until the end ...
Consider, first, that Karstens shrugged off a two-hour, 20-minute rain delay of the first pitch to duel St. Louis ace Chris Carpenter to a draw: Karstens pitched six scoreless innings -- seven hits, no walks, two strikeouts -- and Carpenter went eight.
Or that Evan Meek faced the minimum through his two innings.
Or that sizzling Joel Hanrahan struck out the side in the ninth, including Albert Pujols and Matt Holliday on disheveled swings, to force extra innings.
Or -- and sit down for this one -- that Kratz threw out all three runners trying to steal, first time for the Pirates since Keith Osik also threw out three July 5, 1999, against the Chicago Cubs.
"The guys fought hard," Russell said. "I'm proud of how they played. It was a great game for both teams, but we just couldn't come up with that one hit."
Beforehand, Russell sounded as if he welcomed the chance to have rookies Pedro Alvarez, Jose Tabata and Walker face a wealth of good pitching in this week's span: Colorado's Ubaldo Jimenez held the Pirates to a run Thursday in Denver, then Carpenter, then Adam Wainwright on Sunday, and Cincinnati's Mike Leake and Johnny Cueto Tuesday and Wednesday in Pittsburgh.
"It's good that they see these guys," Russell said. "I'm sure in the minors they could watch guys like Carpenter and say, 'Wow.' Now, they've seen Jimenez, and they get to face these guys. You know it's going to be a challenge, but it's fun. I know when I faced Nolan Ryan, Roger Clemens, Dwight Gooden or J.R. Richard for the first time, you go to the plate and it's, like, 'Oh, no.' "
There has not been much oh-no to the Pirates' offense since the All-Star break, first in the National League with 72 runs, second with a .286 batting average, third with a .445 slugging percentage. But even good hitting needs to capitalize on chances against good pitching, and the Pirates failed to do that.
Mostly quiet through five, they put two aboard in the sixth, only to have Alvarez swing at the first pitch and bounce one for the third out.
They put two more aboard in the seventh, and Kratz was picked off first base -- a set play by the catcher Molina on a stay-in-the-crouch pitchout -- to end that one.
"There just wasn't that one play that we needed," Russell said.
Karstens had to dig out of trouble, too, in the sixth, by getting Matt Holliday to pop up with two aboard, and that was noteworthy for Karstens in the context that his season ERA was 3.18 through the first five innings, 13.06 after the fifth. No collapse this time.
"I went right at Holliday with a pitch where he usually likes it, but it was my pitch," Karstens said. "I like to work off a hitter's aggressiveness, and I was able to do that a lot."
Russell praised all the pitching, as well as two sliding catches in left by Tabata.
"Karstens, Meek, Hanrahan, the defense ... again, the guys fought hard," Russell said.
No aspect of the defense was more striking than Kratz's rare achievement in caught stealings: In the second, he nailed Holliday after Karstens, one of the Pirates' few pitchers who is quick to the plate, got him the ball in a hurry. In the fourth, Kratz nailed Jon Jay, thanks in part to an acrobatic tag by shortstop Ronny Cedeno. And in the seventh, even though Meek has been among the least effective at holding runners, Kratz nailed Ryan.
"Great job," Russell said.
"The pitchers gave me an opportunity, varied their looks on the mound, and Ronny picked me up on the one," Kratz said with a shrug. "It's a team effort."
That effort involves the catcher, too, of course, and Kratz now is 4 for 5 in catching runners, accounting for a strikingly large portion of the Pirates' meager season total of 14. Ryan Doumit and Jason Jaramillo each has caught five runners.
Looking for more from the Post-Gazette? Join PG+, our members-only web site. You'll get exclusive sports content, opinion, financial information, discounts from retailers and restaurants, and more. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.
