Pittsburgh Pirates’ Eric Fryer follows through on an RBI single during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday, July 5, 2016, in St. Louis. The Cardinals used three singles and a fielder’s choice to score in the fifth.
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Martinez (7-6) threw well on the mound as well. He departed after allowing five runs in six innings.
Jaso pushed the lead to 3-1 with a run-scoring hit in the seventh off Martinez, who gave up three runs on nine hits over seven innings. Frazier reached base five times in Chicago’s 8-2 win over the Yankees. Grichuk pinch-hit in the ninth and singled…. So there was a sliver of a silver lining.
“We can’t wait for tomorrow to arrive and kind of erase this one”, Cardinals backup catcher Brayan Pena said.
That opened the floodgates.
“Unfortunately, it’s been the name of the game so far this year”, Leake said. That would be all, though, and the Bucs closed out a 4-2 victory.
Pittsburgh outfielder Gregory Polanco hit two home runs and drove in three runs to lead the Pirates to their fifth successive win, all on the road. “He’s taken that step in his career to where he’s figuring out how to pitch on a consistent basis to find his stuff and get quick outs”. Pittsburgh’s successful replay challenge tagged Carpenter with a throwing error.
Polanco served as Pittsburgh’s designated hitter for most of last week as it worked through AL West cities Seattle and Oakland.
Once again, the Central Division in the National League is arguably the most competitive in all of Major League Baseball, with more than enough time left in the season for the Cubs, Cardinals and Pirates to qualify for at least one game in the 2016 MLB Playoffs.
Gregory Polanco isn’t yet capable of going all-out to run down a ball in the gap or hustling out an infield hit. He held the Cardinals scoreless through four innings despite hard contact – four lineouts to Andrew McCutchen and Polanco, and Jhonny Peralta’s second-inning double off the left-field wall.
That larceny paid off when Matt Holliday lined a RBI single up the middle to push the Cardinals lead to 2-0. With a runner a first and one out, Martinez singled to center. He even banged out two hits at the plate to up his season average to.290. Grichuk was recalled from Triple-A Memphis after Brandon Moss was placed on the 15-day disabled list with a sprained left ankle.
Locke will be opposed by left-hander Jaime Garcia, who cruised through a 7-1 win Friday night over the Milwaukee Brewers, giving up four hits and a run in eight innings and just 98 pitches.
Moss’ injury was untimely.
Although a sore hamstring has limited Polanco to just 15 innings in the outfield since June 24, his swing remains risky. He built an on-base plus slugging percentage of 1.199.
But the Cards could not bunch hits together despite tallying nine hits, three by Matt Carpenter and two by Martinez, who is now hitting.
Adams will get additional opportunities to regain his stroke after recovering from a back strain.
Tuesday night, Fryer joined forces with another former Cardinal to beat their former team in Busch Stadium. Dating back to June 10, he is in a 3-for-32 downturn.
Zachary covers the Pirates for Pittsburgh Sporting News.
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“He was really clean those first four innings”, St. Louis manager Mike Matheny said of Leake.
