Bucs Late Two-Out Lightning Strikes Cards As Pirates Take Opener 9-4

Alex McRae got into quick one-out hot water with a flare knock and walk, but a quick around-the-horn DP turned down the heat. The Bucs didn't get a ball out of the infield off Miles Mikolas. The Cards opened the second with a single off Redbeard's glove and Tommy Edman homered an out later to put St. Louis up 2-0. The Pirates got a walk, DP and K. The Redbirds drew a walk for their third inning action. Fraze singled to start the Pirates off. Mikolas hung a 3-2 slider to K-Man, and he ripped a double to chase Adam home with two away and halve the lead. McCrae had a three grounder fourth for his first clean inning; so far, so good. With two gone, two walks and a Joey O knock put Buccos on every base; Jake's fly to right kept them there. The Birds were quiet in the fifth, with a sweet sliding grab by Reynoldo in The Notch in front of the 410' mark. It was X-Rae's last inning. He tossed 91 pitches and did a solid job. Newman was plunked on a 1-2 pitch and Starling walked with two down before J-Bell fanned. Michael Feliz posted a walk and a whiff in the sixth. Tyler Webb spun a clean frame.

Marte in the middle of it all again - photo Pittsburgh Pirates

Ric Rod got the seventh inning call and gave up a solo shot to Edman. A walk and two-bagger added another tally and brought in Wei-Chung Wang, who stopped the bleeding at 4-1. John Gant gave up a leadoff rap to Tuck and K-Man walked an out later. Andrew Miller was waved in and fanned Reynolds. Starling legged out an infield bingle to pack the sacks, then J-Bell dropped a bloop over first to chase home a pair. Melky tied the game with another rap that brought on John Brebbia. The switch didn't help the Cards; Joey O knocked in a run and Fraze tripled home a pair on a ball high off the Clemente Wall to put Pittsburgh up 7-4. Frankie Liriano worked the eighth. He was tapped for a single/double combo but no runs after some help, as Felipe came on with two outs and whiffed Edman to end the frame. Mike Mayers gave up a single to K-Man and two-bagger to Reynolds; Starling singled them both in, going to second on the throw home. J-Bell was given an intentional pass; that worked as Melky rolled into a DP. The Nightmare allowed a couple of singles before tucking the Redbirds in for the night. Raise the Roger.

Another nice night for Newman - photo Pittsburgh Pirates

Big props to Alex McRae for keeping the Bucs hanging around. And hey, maybe there will be some September relevance; the Bucs do have games with the Cards, Brewers and Cubs left. Playing spoiler would be a fun way to cruise out of an otherwise meh campaign.

Notes:

• K-Man, Starling, Joey O and Fraze each had two hits. The nine Pirates runs were scored by eight different players; six Buccos had RBI.
• The Bucs sent 10 hitters to the dish in the seventh and banged out five straight two-out hits.
• The Pirates snapped an eight-game losing streak to the Cards. It was their first win over St. Louis at PNC Park this season.
• Tommy Edman hadn't hit a homer since August 18th; he had a pair tonight. It's his first MLB two-dinger game.
• If you're curious, Keone Kela was not available; he's out on paternity leave. We believe he's due back tomorrow.
• The announced Friday night crowd was 19,090.