HBD Phil: Late Buc Rally, Air-Tight Bullpen Earn Pirates a 6-5 Victory in 11 Frames

Steven Brault and Miles Mikolas traded clean first innings. The Cards went down quietly in the second, and the Bucs blew a golden opportunity. With an out, Corey D and Cervy singled, then Colin Moran got plunked. Jordy had one job with Brault on deck and couldn't do it, popping out. The Redbirds then jumped on Brault in the third - a homer, double, single and two walks led to three runs, and the Bucs  responded with nada. An error, walk, wild pitch and sac fly gave St. Louis another run while the Pirates got a Cervy single. In the fifth, a double/single combo made it 5-0 and Kyle Crick came on to close the inning. Pittsburgh went down quietly again. Tyler Glasnow took over in the sixth and gave up a knock and walked the pitcher, but a caught stealing helped him put up a zippo. The Buccos dented the board on a Gregory dingeroff a changeup and back-to-back knocks by Starling & J-Bell, followed by a Corey D sac fly. Tyler gave up a double in the seventh that led to no damage, and the Pirates went down in order. Glasnow had himself an inning in the eighth, striking out the side with some nasty cutter action on his heater. Bud Norris came on and gave up a rap to Gregory but nothing else.

Phil Coyne was the only bright spot early in the game (photo MLB.com)

Richard Rodriguez tossed a 1-2-3 ninth with two K. Greg Holland took the ball and gave up a double to Corey D and Cervy single to put Buccos on the corners. The Bucs caught a break when Colin Moran's grounder to first was booted, plating a run and leaving Pirates at first and third. The wheels were turning as Cool Chad ran for Red Beard, and he got his day's running in after Jordy banged a game-tying double. He got to third on the play when Tommy Pham had trouble corralling the ball. Dominic Leone was hastily waved in and got Max Moroff on a short fly to center. Freeser was walked intentionally and lefty Tyler Lyons was called in to face Gregory. Lyons won that bout easily; Polanco struck out without seeing a strike in a wasted at-bat. Matt Bowman joined the posse, called on to face Starling. He struck out chasing first a ball in the dirt, fouling off a couple, and then fishing for a slider that was in a different zip code. The Cards got two big whiffs on nine pitches, two of which were strikes.

Jordy had several shots at being the hero and came through in the 9th
(photo Dave Arrigo/Pirates)

Felipe Vazquez got the 10th and tossed a clean frame. Bowman walked Amore with two outs and moved him to second with a wild pitch. Eli grabbed a bat - he's the last bench player - and worked a walk. Jordy ran the count full but was out of heroics, swinging through a slider. George Kontos tossed the 11th; after a one-out walk, he got a gift Gregory-to-J-Bell DP when pinch runner Harrison Baden took off on a liner that was easily hauled in by El Coffee. Jordan Hicks answered the phone. With an out, he walked Freeser and wild-pitched him 90' further. A grounder moved him to third, Starling was up again and again bit on a two-strike slider off the dish, but this one was within the bat's reach and he dropped it into center to cue a Marte Partay and more importantly, RTJR.

Give the boys credit - they got another shaky start from Steven Brault (Nick Kingham may be auditioning for a couple of extra turns on Sunday) and left ducks on the pond, but they came through in the end. The Cards came into town on a roll, so this is a key start to the series, especially with the NL Central tighter than a constrictor's coil as the top four teams are within a game of one another (sorry, Reds). And finally, happy birthday, Phil, hope you enjoyed your party!

Walk it off Starling (photo Pittsburgh Pirates)

Notes:

• Amore had three hits; Starling, Gregory and Corey D each had a pair. The foursome collected nine of the Bucs 11 knocks.
• This was the Pirates second consecutive walk-off win after having none prior this year. It's old hat to Starling as tonight was his seventh walk-off knock.
• Tonight's paid attendance was 15,748.