Pirates at Cardinals
The Pittsburgh Pirates have dropped five of their last six contests but still have a shot at a series win when they visit the St. Louis Cardinals in the rubber match of a three-game set on Sunday. The Pirates snapped a four-game slide with a 4-2 win in the opener but were let down by the bullpen in Saturday’s 6-4 setback.
Pittsburgh is surrendering an average of 6.4 runs in its last five losses, four of which have come against the two teams it figures to be battling in the National League Central all season – the Cardinals and the Chicago Cubs. Jeff Locke turned in six solid innings on Saturday and the Pirates missed out on a chance to take the lead when a ground-rule double forced the potential go-ahead run to stay at third, and St. Louis walked off with the win on Matt Carpenter’s home run in the bottom of the ninth inning. The Cardinals are winners of four of their last six games and are starting to get more production from Carpenter, who is 5-for-14 in the last three games. A win in Sunday’s finale would vault St. Louis (16-15) over Pittsburgh (16-14) for second place in the Central behind Chicago (23-6).
TV: 2:15 p.m. ET, MLB Network, ROOT (Pittsburgh), FSN Midwest (St. Louis)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Pirates RH Gerrit Cole (2-3, 3.95 ERA) vs. Cardinals RH Michael Wacha (2-2, 2.65)
Cole has yet to go past six innings in five starts and is coming off his worst outing of the season after serving up six runs – five earned – on six hits and a season-high four walks over 4 2/3 innings against the Cubs. The former No. 1 overall pick has only yielded one home run in 27 1/3 total innings but has issued 10 walks in that span. Cole is 4-3 with a 2.91 ERA in eight career starts against St. Louis, including a pair of wins last September.
Wacha put together his longest start of the season last time out but could not get any support and ended up with a loss against Philadelphia. The Texas A&M product surrendered one run and five hits in eight innings with eight strikeouts but came out on the wrong end of a 1-0 decision. Wacha is 3-1 with a 3.73 ERA in eight career games – seven starts – against the Pirates but was lit up for five runs and 10 hits in 4 1/3 innings at Pittsburgh on April 5.
WALK-OFFS
1. Pirates 3B-SS Jung Ho Kang went 0-for-3 on Saturday after homering twice in his season debut on Friday.
2. St. Louis SS-2B Jedd Gyorko is 3-for-31 in his last 11 games.
3. Pittsburgh 3B and former Cardinal David Freese received a standing ovation from the crowd when he appeared as a pinch hitter on Saturday.