PITTSBURGH _ There were chills and spills and innings of complete control by young right-hander Jack Flaherty, but in the end Saturday night at PNC Park, the Cardinals saw another lead, this one slim, slip away in the second half of a game.
Flaherty got through five solid innings before trying to navigate Pittsburgh's lineup for a third time, and what followed was two walks and a rupture that sped the Pirates toward a 6-2 victory. It was their second come-from-behind victory of the weekend against the Cardinals, their second where they riddled the Cardinals' bullpen, and their first when they moved ahead of the Cardinals and alone into first place in the early-season standings.
The two walks led to two runs that usurped the Cardinals' 2-1 lead. The Pirates were able to extend their lead in the seventh inning with birthday boy David Freese's sacrifice fly and then a series of infield hits against Mike Mayers.
Curiosities and concerns dotted the game.
In the seventh inning, right fielder Dexter Fowler chased after a foul fly ball and ran into the low, padded wall that separates foul territory from a walkway. As he reached for the ball, Fowler's legs caught the wall and sent him, headfirst, toward that concrete walk. From a distance, it appeared like he was doing a headstand _ or worse landing on his head. Fowler was able to brace himself with his right arm. Teammates rushed to him, as did his manager, and his trainer, and he was able to stay in and finish the game. He even caught the ball for the final out of that inning and took his at-bat in the ninth inning.
The next inning brought manager Mike Matheny to the field again when a fly out to left field by Collin Moran was waved off because home-plate umpire Gabe Morales felt Mayers quick-pitched. By rule, the umpire has the discretion to call a quick pitch, and with no runners on base the pitch is considered a ball.
The evening began with a first-pitch temp of 42 degrees, and out came the jackets for the Cardinals as a biting wind greeted them during batting practice. The Cardinals added Flaherty to the active roster earlier in the day, and they kept Mike Mayers on the roster for innings insurance. Three extra-inning games in four days had added a strain to the bullpen, none more so than Friday night's loss when Greg Holland's misstep in the ninth led to three relievers getting three outs in that inning. The preference for the Cardinals was to get more innings from Flaherty and have little work for Mayers.
Flaherty gave them five and limited the Pirates to three runs on four hits and four walks. Mayers had to come in later as the game went sideways with errors.
Pirates starter Trevor Williams, who won his first three starts of the season, improved to 4-1 with six innings. He limited the Cardinals to two runs on four hits and two walks. For a second consecutive evening, the Cardinals went quiet against the Bucs' bullpen. They've yet to get a runner safely past first base in the eighth inning or later of either game.
With Adam Wainwright set to throw his first bullpen session in the middle of the coming week, Flaherty appears set for at least a two-start engagement in the majors.
He has continued to prove the ways he's ready.
Or, as pitching coach Mike Maddux put it this weekend, "He's shown quite well that he's a major-leaguer."
He was efficient and at times cagey as one Saturday. In three of Flaherty's first four innings, the Bucs bounced into a double play that gave the rookie righthander an escape of his own making. A leadoff single in the first inning was erased by a double play to end the inning. A leadoff walk in the second inning, vanished on the next pitch when Corey Dickerson hit into a double play. In the fourth inning, Starling Marte opened with a single, and the next batter, Josh Bell, chopped a grounder immediately to give Flaherty his third double play and the Bucs' a tie of their team record.
In the first five innings, the only time Pittsburgh had any luck getting past second base against Flaherty was when Francisco Cervelli put the ball over the wall.
Flaherty got ahead of Cervelli, 0-2. His 21st pitch was greeted by Cervelli for the catcher's fourth home run of the season and a 1-0 lead.
The Cardinals answered in the top of the next inning.
It took a little small ball to get the offense revving. Paul DeJong singled and took second on Kolten Wong's sacrifice bunt, and then waited for the two-out hit that would bring him home. Flaherty executed a similar sacrifice bunt in the fifth inning, and while that didn't net a run, the play in the third inning did. Tommy Pham drilled a double that brought home DeJong and knotted the game, 2-2.
An eventful at-bat in the sixth inning pushed the Cardinals to the lead. Marcell Ozuna fell behind 0-2 to Bucs' starter Williams. He lifted a popup behind the plate that Cervelli had a play on _ but could not reach. The Bucs catcher went to the padded railing near a camera well at the home-plate end of the Cardinals' dugout. His reach was just shy, and a kinetic Ozuna saw his at-bat continue. He would work his way back into the count, get it full, and then await Williams' ninth pitch of the at-bat.
But not before the at-bat also featured two visits to the mound and one visit from the Cardinals' trainer to second base. Jose Martinez, standing there in scoring position, appeared to have difficulty catching his breath. His eyes were watering as if he swallowed something, though an explanation was not readily available. Martinez remained at the game, just as Ozuna remained at the plate.
At times, he would circle the batter's box, crouch, and circle back almost as if ready to pounce on someone, or at least surprise them.
On the ninth pitch, he did.
Ozuna laced a single to left field that broke a tie and gave Flaherty and the bullpen a lead to hold. It was slimmer than the five-run lead they had Friday. They had more outs to get than they had Friday. It didn't last as long as Friday's.
