Pittsburgh Pirates Swept in Two-Game Series at St. Louis

The Pittsburgh Pirates finished off their two game series against the Cardinals by getting swept Wednesday night

The Pittsburgh Pirates dropped the second game of the two game set against the Cardinals by a final score of 5-8. This brings their record on the year to 17-24.

In the loss the team received poor work from there starting pitcher and bullpen, as well as more struggles from the offense with runners in scoring position. With the series loss the Pittsburgh Pirates are now 0-5-2 in their last 7 series played.

Pitching struggles

Trevor Cahill fell to 1-5 after his poor outting that was cut short due to injury. Cahill was charged with four earned runs after he gave up a RBI double in the 1st inning, and then all three runners that were left on in the second when he was forced out of the game came across to score.

After Cahill left with hamstring tightness, Duane Underwood Jr. came in and pitched 3 innings of relief. In these three innings, Underwood allowed all three inherited runners and one earned run to come across the plate in the second inning.

In the 5th inning, Luis Oviedo came in, and pitched two innings. In these two innings, he aloowed two runs, but also had two strikeouts.

Lastly, Sam Howard and Kyle Keller pitched the seventh and eigth innings respectively. These two were the only bright spots for pitching today, as they combined for four strikeouts and no hits.

Polancos bounce back game?

Gregory Polanco had a game to remember today both at the plate and in the field. When the bases were loaded in the second inning, Jack Flaherty hit a line drive towards Polanco that he had to use every inch of his 6’5 frame in order to catch it. Later on on the fifth, the bases were loaded again and Polanco made another spectacular catch to limit the damage.

At the dish Polanco had a nice night as well. He went 2-4 with a home run 3 RBI and a walk. This home run was the first one the Pittsburgh Pirates hit off of Jack Flaherty since Josh Bell did it in 2018.

7th inning rally falls short

The Pittsburgh Pirates were down 8-2 going into the seventh, the Pirates started to mount a comeback. After a walk and two singles, the Pirates had the bases loaded. Bryan Reynolds bouced into a fielders choice to cut the deficit to 8-3. Next, Polanco continued his nice performance by tacking on a rbi single. to make it 8-4. Then, in his Pirates debut Ildemaro Vargas got a single to make the score 8-5 and allowed the tying run to come to the plate.

This ended up being for naught as the next two batters grounded out and struck out to end the inning, and ultimetly end the scoring for the game for both teams.

What’s Next

The Pittsburgh Pirates travel to Truist Park in Atlanta to take on the struggling Braves in a four game series. Thursdays game has a set first pitch time of 7:20. This game will see Wil Crowe (0-2, 4.35 ERA) face off against Drew Smyly (2-2, 5.23 ERA)