A hot start put the Cardinals in position to pick up another much needed win to keep pace with the Reds for the second Wild Card.
Home runs from Nolan Arenado and Edmundo Sosa, along with clutch two-out hits by Tommy Edman and Paul Goldschmidt, gave St. Louis a commanding 7-1 lead in just the third inning. The only thing standing in their way was yet another bullpen meltdown.
Leading 7-3 in the bottom of the seventh, Andrew Miller walked the first two hitters before manager Mike Shildt turned it over to Genesis Cabrera. Things would only get worse from there.
Fast-forward just a few minutes and the Pirates had scored 8 runs and taken an 11-7 lead before an out was even recorded. Six of them were allowed by Cabrera, who was left in the game until after he allowed a pinch-hit home run to Yoshi Tsutsugo.
“He was left in because he’s really good. I mean, you know at some point if you took everybody out after a couple hits you’d never have anybody pitch,” said Shildt. “Look, I get it. He got hit hard and we got Ponce up, I mean there was a lot of action in eight pitches. The guy’s been fantastic for us.”
And the Cardinals came up empty in the eighth and ninth, losing a critical series opener in what may just be the worst loss of the year.
Added Shildt, “It erased a lot of really really really good things that took place today.”
After gaining a game on Cincinnati with Wednesday’s win, St. Louis gave it right back, as the Reds won in Milwaukee 5-1.
Meanwhile, amongst the chaos, Cabrera’s ERA went from 3.34 to 4.29.
“Forget about it,” said Miles Mikolas when asked about what advice he would give to Cabrera after such a tough night. “Have an extra beer tonight and forget about it. Forget it even happened. He made good pitches, sometimes things don’t go your way. Forget about it.”
The Cardinals had a ten-game winning streak at PNC Park heading into last night’s game. They’ll turn to former Pirate J.A. Happ as they attempt to bounce back from Thursday’s implosion.
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