Wacha Own Pirates; Goes Eight No-Hit Innings In 5-0 Cruise

The Pirates went 1-2-3 to Michael Wacha. And sweet begonias - a walk, a knock, a DP ball booted by S-Rod and a hanging slider to Marcell Ozuna that was shipped into the seats (all done in a nine-pitch span) made it 4-0 without an out to Nick Kingham's credit. The second and third frames were quiet; Nick has retired nine in-a-row since the grand salami. The Bucs went down in order in the fourth; the Redbirds broke the string at 11 with a two-out Kolten Wong single. Pittsburgh drew a couple of walks in the fifth, but still nary a knock. With two outs, the Redbirds got a single and a Freeser error, but Nick wiggled out of it. Same ol' for the Pirates in the sixth. Steven Brault is now pushing off the rubber - nice recovery by The King, who ended up giving up four hits and K'ing five on 81 tosses - and sprayed the ball all over. He went 3-0 on the first three hitters, but only lost one of them, getting a line out and strike 'em out, throw 'em out DP to twirl a wildly quiet inning.

Nick Kingham rebounded nicely after a sloppy start (photo source Pittsburgh Pirates)

The no-hit watch continued through the seventh. Steven found the plate and rolled up a 1-2-3 frame. The Pirates had no luck again the eighth. Michael Feliz, who has been AWOL lately, took the ball.  A double and walk with an out set up the Cards; a single that kicked off Feliz brought home another run and Ric Rod was called in to finish out the frame. But the long inning may have had an effect; after 107 pitches and a little sleepy time, Wacha's no-no bid was ended by Colin Moran's pinch-hit knock, a clean single to right off an 0-2 changeup. That brought in Jordan Hicks, who was touched for a one-out knock by AM but otherwise shut the gate to keep the shutout intact.

Hey, props to Michael Wacha; he was dealing, getting 12 grounders and eight K while muzzling the Bucs. But Clint helped, benching two strong lefty bats and playing his bench. Maybe he ought to consider throwing his best eight players out there and see where that goes. We also wonder how much a team that's so young rubs against his vet-loving grain, as seen in lineup and bench construction. As for Kingham, he did his job after a slow start. f S-Rod turns two in the first instead of booting a bouncer, Nick's line was solid.

Notes:

• The Pirates are now 30-29 after losing 12-of-16; they've been on the short side of five straight series. They haven't dropped to .500 all year; 12-11 on April 25th was the closest they've come.
• The last Cardinals no-hitter was September 3rd, 2001, tossed by Bud Smith vs San Diego.
• Michael Feliz has been scored on in his last five appearances dating back to May 23rd.
• On his Sunday show, Neal Huntington said that Indy's Kevin Newman is ready to play short for the Pirates if a need arises.