Adam Frazier Powers Pittsburgh Pirates to Series Victory

The Pittsburgh Pirates are now 44-48 this season

On Sunday afternoon, it appeared the Pittsburgh Pirates were going to drop their series against the St. Louis Cardinals. The Bucs trailed the Red Birds by a score of 3-2 entering the bottom of the 9th inning, however, the Pirates rallied to a 4-3 victory.

With the victory, the Pittsburgh Pirates won their weekend series against the St. Louis Cardinals. Both of the Pirate wins came in walk off fashion, and those wins improved the Bucs to being 4-5 against the Cardinals this season. The Pirates now find themselves with a 44-48 record, which puts them 7 games out of first place in the National League Central.

On Sunday afternoon, the Pittsburgh Pirates struck first.

Adam Frazier singled to start the bottom of the 1st inning. After he stole second base, Andrew McCutchen delivered a RBI single. This made it 1-0 Pirates after an inning of play.

The score would remain 1-0 until the top of the 5th inning when Magneuris Sierra reached on an infield hit to start the inning for the Cardinals. After a sacrifice bunt by Carlos Martinez, Matt Carpenter came through with a double to score Sierra. This tied the game at 1.

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Max Moroff would make sure the Pirates got that lead right back, though. The much maligned Moroff, who started at third base on Sunday afternoon, led off the bottom of the 5th inning with his first career home run. This gave the Pirates a 2-1 lead.

Trevor Williams started for the Pirates on Sunday afternoon. While he did not have his best stuff, he did a very good job of limiting the damage. Although, he would make a slip up in the top of the 6th inning.

With 2 outs and Kolten Wong on first, Williams allowed a base hit to the light hitting Sierra. Then, his mound opponent Carlos Martinez delivered a RBI single. This tied the game at 2 and chased Williams from the game. Daniel Hudson would replace Williams and retired Matt Carpenter to end the inning.

In 5 2/3 innings pitched Trevor Williams allowed 2 runs on 10 hits, 2 walks, and 5 strikeouts. Williams continues to do strong work out of the Pirate rotation.

After Tony Watson pitched a scoreless 7th inning, Clint Hurdle turned to Juan Nicasio in the top of the 8th. Nicasio had not allowed a home run all season entering Sunday’s game when, unfortunately, that changed.

Yadier Molina led off the top of the 8th inning with his 10th home run of the season. This gave the Cardinals a 3-2 lead. Nicasio would also allow a single and a walk, but he struck out a pair to keep the score at 4-3.

The 9th inning has been a major issue for the Cardinals all season long and that continued on Sunday afternoon.

Instead of usual closer Seung-hwan Oh, who allowed a walk off home run to Josh Bell on Friday night, Mike Matheny went with left-handed pitcher Brett Cecil in the bottom of the 9th inning. Entering Sunday’s game, Cecil had not allowed a run in his past 15 2/3 innings pitched. This made him seem like a safe bet to close out the game.

To start the inning, Francisco Cervelli reached on an infield hit that shortstop Paul DeJong should have fielded. After Josh Harrison replaced him as a pinch-runner, Jordy Mercer would rope a game-tying double down the left field line.

Pinch-hitter David Freese was then intentionally walked. This was done to get to the left-handed hitting Adam Frazier, and Frazier would make the Cardinals pay. Frazier ripped a single up the middle to score Mercer and give the Pirates a 4-3 victory.

This was Adam Frazier’s first career walk off hit and it capped a great come-from-behind victory for the Pittsburgh Pirates on Sunday afternoon. This victory continued the Pirates strong play of late, as the Bucs are now 18-13 in their past 31 games.

Next: Marte Hitting Well During Rehab Stint

The Pirates continue their 7 game homestand tomorrow night at 7:05. At 7:05 tomorrow night the Pirates will begin their most important series of the season. The Bucs will start a 4 game series with the first place Milwaukee Brewers. 3 out of 4 is a necessity if the Pirates wish to make a run at the National League Central in the second half of the season.

The first game of the 4 game series will feature a pitching matchup of Chad Kuhl and rookie Brent Suter.