St. Louis Cardinals 6, Pittsburgh Pirates 4: Stars And Stiffs

The Pittsburgh Pirates lost to the St. Louis Cardinals for the first time in the 2016 season on Saturday by a score of 6-4.

On Saturday afternoon in St. Louis the Pittsburgh Pirates suffered their fifth loss in the last six games falling to the St. Louis Cardinals by a score of 6-4. This was the first time this season that the Pirates lost to the Cardinals, and they are now 4-1 on the year against their NL Central Division foes. Here are the three stars and three stiffs from today’s game.

Stars

Starting pitcher Jeff Locke – Four batters into the game Jeff Locke had yet to record an out, had allowed two runs, and had already thrown over 20 pitches. However, after this Locke settled down and cruised for the remainder of the game. Locke retired 18 of the last 20 hitters he faced, allowing just a double to Adam Wainwright and a solo home run to Stephen Piscotty during that stretch.

Overall, Locke allowed three runs on four hits, two walks, and a strikeout in six innings pitched on Saturday. I will take that every single time out of my fifth starter, especially after the struggles Locke faced in the first inning. Jeff Locke has now quietly strung together three consecutive strong starts having allowed just six runs on one home run, six walks, and 13 hits in 19 innings pitched.

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Second baseman Josh Harrison – Josh Harrison went 2-for-4 with a double on Saturday afternoon. Harrison’s double led off the seventh inning, and even though he did not score the run it helped to set up the tying run that inning. After his performance Saturday, Harrison already has 13 multi-hit games this season. With his two hit performance on Saturday Harrison continued his hot hitting in 2016 raising his slash line to .324/.353/.423/.776, his wOBA to .337, and his wRC+ to 109.

Left fielder Starling Marte – On Saturday afternoon Starling Marte went 2-for-5, including a game tying double off of Trevor Rosenthal in the ninth inning. With the Pirates trailing 4-3 with two outs in the ninth inning, Marte drove a 3-2 Trevor Rosenthal fastball into the left-center gap for a game tying double. The Pirates were victimized by some very bad luck on the play, as the ball bounced into the stands for a ground rule double. If not for that, Gregory Polanco would have scored easily from first to give the Pirates a 5-4 lead.

Stiffs

Pitcher Jared Hughes – In the bottom of the eighth inning and the game tied at three Jared Hughes took over on the mound for the Pittsburgh Pirates, and the game would not remain tied for long. Hughes allowed a one out double to Stephen Piscotty, and then with two outs Randal Grichuk got a base hit on a ground ball up the middle to give the Cardinals a 4-3 lead.

Hughes would then issue back-to-back walks to Yadier Molina and Matt Adams before retiring Jedd Gyorko to end the inning. This was the fourth appearance of the season for Hughes since coming off the disabled list, and he has yet to regain the form of old we are used to seeing with him.

Pitcher A.J. Schugel – All in all A.J. Schugel has done a nice job for the Pirates out of the bullpen this season entering today’s game with a 2.65 FIP. However, today was not a good day for Schugel. After the Pirates tied the game in the top of the ninth inning Schugel came on to pitch the bottom of the ninth inning. Schugel allowed an infield hit to the incredibly annoying Aledmys Diaz to start the inning, Schugel was able to retire Jeremy Hazelbaker before surrendering a walk-off home run to Matt Carpenter.

Even though the Bucs got walked off by the Cardinals in this game, there were only two stiffs. So at least there’s that. Go win the series tomorrow.

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