Carpenter’s homer was the 15th by a St. Louis pinch-hitter this season, a major league record. “I really spent good time thinking about that”. “We’ve got a team that I don’t think anybody wants to match up with, especially in a postseason scenario”. Your job today: poll ten baseball fans you know and ask them if they know what team Ryon Healy and Joey Wendle play for.
Advertisement
Down to their last strike, Matt Carpenter hit a solo home run off of Pittsburgh Pirates reliever Tony Watson to tie the game at 6-6. But during the first two matchups this year, Kang flied out every time and had no notable hits to speak of.
St. Louis Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina had four hits on Tuesday, including a first-inning grand slam as the Cardinals beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 9-7. Mike Mayers (1-1) tossed a scoreless eighth for the win, and Seung-Hwan Oh worked around a solo homer to Jung Ho Kang in the ninth for his 16th save. Ichiro Suzuki hit the first pinch-hit home run of his career, a two-run shot in the eighth, and Giancarlo Stanton, fresh off the DL, had a pinch-hit single for Miami. The third one, by Matt Adams, drove in Matt Carpenter.The Pirates responded with two runs in the bottom of the first, on Gregory Polanco’s RBI single to right and Kang’s RBI infield single, for a 2-1 lead.The Cardinals tied it in the second when Grichuk was hit by a pitch, stole second and scored on Jhonny Peralta’s double to right.Pittsburgh broke the tie in the fourth when Francisco Cervelli got on with a broken-bat bloop single, advanced on Jordy Mercer’s single to right and Taillon’s bunt, then scored on Josh Harrison’s sacrifice fly for a 3-2 lead.NOTES: Cardinals 2B Matt Carpenter, who was given a rest Tuesday but came off the bench to hit a two-out, game-tying homer in the ninth, was back in the lineup.
More than two weeks removed from his seven shutout innings against the team on the other side of Pennsylvania, Mike Leake returns to the Cardinals’ rotation, looking for a footing and aiming for a sweep. “Just, I love how this team competes, right down to the last out”.
Fast-forward to tonight’s affair, two outs again and Carpenter stepping in, Watson was able to induce a pop-up to right field, sealing a Pirates victory. “I’m at a loss”. This one ended with the Cards knocking the Pirates over the head with a sledgehammer, man, hitting three homers in the top of the ninth, turning a one-run deficit into a three-run lead. It helped snap the Pirates’ longest skid since dropping 10 straight in 2011. Opponents outscored them, 47-22, during the slide, including a 12-6 setback Monday night in which the Cardinals simply overpowered Pittsburgh’s struggling pitching staff.
It looked like more of the same early on Tuesday.
Kang was an offensive dynamo for the second straight game. His 3.22 ERA is the highest since his first full year in the majors in 2012. “It’s good to get back out there”. Sal Perez had to leave the game in the sixth after being hit by a pitch in the wrist. Postgame X-rays were negative and Piscotty doubled as a pinch-hitter in the eighth. In turn, Pittsburgh wasn’t hesitant to put the Korean-born slugger on the disabled list following an injury against the Miami Marlins.
Cardinals Mike Leake, who was activated from the DL after a bout with shingles, started for the first time since August 21.
Advertisement
Cardinals: LHP Jaime Garcia (10-11, 4.41 ERA), who has lost his last three starts, faces Milwaukee RHP Junior Guerra (7-3, 2.85) on Thursday night in the opener of a four-game home series.
