Pittsburgh Pirates defeat St. Louis Cardinals 4-3 – MLB Update
National League central franchise Pittsburgh Pirates had their second-straight triumph over division rivals St. Louis Cardinals 4-3 at Busch Stadium, St. Louis on Monday, April 4.
Charlie Morton, who had .540 average against the Cardinals, took his revenge in the form of six shut-out innings allowing just one run on three hits while striking-out two batters. Under chilling cloudy weather, the 27-year-old right-handed hurler made his
first road win since 2009.
Morton provided a loose pitch only in the second inning when David Freese grounded into a double play that gave the Cardinals an early 1-0 lead. Morton then became unplayable in his last four innings and did not let St. Louis steal any single.
Andrew McCutchen, who failed to notice in Sunday’s competition with rigidity in the collar, made a striking rejoinder as he commenced a huge grand slam as part of a four-run sixth inning. McCutchen, hammered the 30th homer of his career, as he
snatched a game winning advantage.
"It was just a matter of time," McCutchen said. "We know what we can do. Kyle Lohse was having a good game and keeping the ball low, and we did not chase."
Cardinals, after putting a one run lead over the opposition, remained hopeful with Lohse’s tremendous outing until the sixth inning. Lohse struck-out five, all before he received four runs in the sixth inning including a homer.
"Right now, it's frustrating because it cost us the game," Lohse said. "It's time to turn the page for the night. I feel like I did some good things, but we didn't win, so that's the bottom line."
Despite a game-losing sixth inning, Lohse wasted all of the past two seasons struggling with right arm injuries, showed full strength in his outings. Lohse was having a 1.88 ERA in spring and had 4-8 with a 6.55 ERA last year.
Having a three run deficit, the Cardinals’ sluggers retaliated in the eighth inning taking advantage of slack pitches from reliever Evan Meek. Lance Berkman singled to right allowing Albert Pujols to third and Colby Rasmus to score trimming the lead by one
run. With Pujols on third, Allen Craig grounded into fielder’s choice to short-stop that provided Pujols a chance to steal an RBI.
Hopes faded in the bottom of the ninth inning when Pirates’ closer Joel Hanrahan tossed a shut-out inning restricting Skip Schumaker, Daniel Descalso and Ryan Theriot from touching any pitch. He did not allow any run in one inning and pitched 12 strike-out
pitches out of 16. Pujols remained hitless in this season with three scoreless at-bats again in this game.
It will be interesting to see how the Pirates carry their winning momentum into their next match-up. The Cardinals will be looking to improve their performance and get their offence to put valuable runs on the board.
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