ST. LOUIS — First came the honoring of Hall of Famer Lou Brock. Then a ceremony inducting Keith Hernandez, Tom Herr, John Tudor and Bill White into the Cardinals Hall of Fame. With St. Louis clinging ever-so-tightly in the wild-card race, the Pirates have spoiled what was supposed to be a pretty special weekend around here.
A chance to honor a few franchise legends and rack up some wins against a team with one of the worst records in Major League Baseball.
A chance for Cardinals fans to smile, reminisce and think about a late-season charge into the postseason.
For a variety of reasons, that has not yet happened. The Pirates have been too pesky, and they’ve spoiled the Cardinals’ celebratory plans.
On Saturday, that involved a three-run seventh inning that spurred a 5-4 victory at Busch Stadium, the Pirates’ second so far this series and fifth in their past six games at Busch. They’ve outscored the Cardinals 30-15 during that time. Tracing back more, the Pirates have won eight of their last 11 in St. Louis since dropping the first two of 2020.
David Bednar worked around a leadoff single in the ninth to earn his first MLB save and the first for a Pittsburgh pitcher since July 16.
The Pirates made their push while trailing by a run in the seventh. It started with a base hit from Kevin Newman, who was one of four Pirates with multiple hits. After Ben Gamel (three hits) also singled and right fielder Lars Nootbaar misplayed the ball, Ke’Bryan Hayes shot a single the opposite way to score a pair.
The Pirates added on with a single from Yoshi Tsutsugo, who homered in the fourth inning. Tsutsugo lined a fastball the opposite way to score Gamel before Bryan Reynolds — who had walked — was thrown out at home plate.
Chad Kuhl worked the seventh and loaded the bases by allowing three consecutive singles. St. Louis got one back on a sacrifice fly, but Kuhl — in just the third reliever appearance of his career — steadied himself to avoid further damage by getting a pair of strikeouts.
Making his second start with the Pirates since he was promoted from Class AAA Indianapolis on Aug. 15, Dillon Peters was even better his second time out, showcasing a terrific fastball-change-up combination and throwing a lot of strikes.
Peters allowed a run over five innings, walking one and striking out three. The left-hander didn’t miss many bats — just four whiffs on 72 pitches — but Peters was around the plate a lot and enjoyed some good fortune when seven of the eight balls hit at 95-plus mph were caught.
The one that wasn’t, a double by Paul Goldschmidt in the third, scored a run to forge a 1-1 tie, the Cardinals first baseman going down to get a heater at the bottom of the zone and driving it to the right-center gap.
It was one that Gregory Polanco probably should have caught. He took a flat rout, and it sailed past his outstretched arm.
The Pirates grabbed a 1-0 lead in the top half on another big swing from Newman, who entered the game hitting .289 with a .779 OPS in August.
Entering Saturday’s game with eight hits, including six doubles, in his previous 19 at-bats, Newman got an elevated, full-count fastball from J.A. Happ and drove it into the Pirates bullpen in left.
The Pirates took a 2-1 lead an inning later thanks to Tsutsugo’s second home run in as many nights and his fourth extra-base hit with his new team. Tsutsugo jumped on a first-pitch fastball from Happ and clobbered it 430 feet out to center.
Manager Derek Shelton pulled Peters after five, presumably because the Cardinals were hitting for a third time, but it did not have the intended result. Nick Mears gave up a single to left fielder Tyler O’Neill, who then stole second to get himself into scoring position.
Catcher Yadier Molina lined a hanging curveball from Mears into left, scoring O’Neill to tie the game at 2 before shortstop Edmundo Sosa put the Cardinals in front with a double off Mears.
Against Happ and what he’s done against the Pirates this season, two runs felt like a deluge. It doubled their number of runs scored in the first 13 1/3 innings in 2021 against the veteran left-hander.
The Cardinals leaned on Happ through six before turning things over to their bullpen, which had been the most trustworthy in the sport. Since Aug. 6 — and before Saturday night — the Cardinals ‘pen was second in ERA (1.96), first in WHIP (0.87) and fourth in OPS against (.541).
But that, like the rest of the things the Cardinals thought they’d have to smile about this weekend, ultimately went awry as the Pirates took the first two games of this series. Now the tough part: The Pirates are 0-8 this season when trying to sweep an opponent.
