In the last two years, the wild card Pirates have gone up against Madison Bumgarner and Jake Arrieta in games with no margin for error. “It’s been awhile”, Arrieta said.
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Rizzo hit. 323 (21-for-66) with five doubles and four home runs during the season series, while second baseman Starlin Castro batted.
Arrieta, who was 22-6 on the season and a serious Cy Young candidate, pitched a complete-game shutout, striking out 11 in his first postseason start.
Pittsburgh were knocked out after an impressive 98 victories this year, second only to division rival St Louis, whose dominance forced the Pirates into the sudden-death wild-card game. Kang will stay in Pittsburgh indefinitely to continue his rehab, but the Pirates hope he will be able to return home for at least part of the offseason.
“I was trying to stop him as he charged me”, Ross said, “and he bent down, and my hand went on his throat”. “I know individuals once upon a time used to say that getting into battles or whatever used to bring their groups closer”. He laughed off a sequence in the seventh when Tony Watson’s fastball hit him in his left side. Either way, the Pirates were frustrated, as they now have not scored in two straight wild card games.
“They have elevated their play to a level that’s beyond their years, and it’s one of the big reasons we’re here”, he added. The mandate was clear: Finally catch the Cardinals and build a World Series victor after more than a century of disappointments. Remember this was without ace Adam Wainwright so this was quite a feat although the Cards rotation was still the best in the game with a 2.94 ERA. Schwarber wound up with three RBIs off Pirates starter Gerrit Cole, including a two-run homer to give the Cubs at 3-0 lead in the third inning. Because baseball’s postseason is more about making money than fair play, the teams with the second- and third-best records in baseball played a one-game series on Tuesday night.
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Chicago did have a bit of navigating to do – but more around Pirates fists than baserunners. It was a disappointing loss, no question, but the Pirates ran into the man who has been the best pitcher in the recent history of Major League Baseball. Rodriguez had been pulled from the game in the 3rd inning and got right in the middle of the scuffle and completely lost his head, to the point that he was ejected and needed to be restrained by his teammates.
