Bader's Homer, DP's Carry Redbirds To Sweep, 3-0

Today's Game: The Cards drew an opening walk off Wil Crowe, who then routinely retired the next trio. Carlos Martinez lost a batter, too, with no damage resulting. St. Louis started the second with a walk and a knock. An out later, that combo led to what's become SOP for the Cards this series, a three-run homer, this one a Harrison Bader shot over The Notch. Jake Stallings doubled among three bounce outs. Crowe was barreled up in the third, but a two-out double was the only ball that didn't find a mitt. The Pirates started with consecutive singles by Crowe and Adam Frazier, but Bryan Reynold's whiff and Colin Moran's 4-6-3 DP took care of that quickly enough. The first Card was bopped in the fourth, but a bullet to third doubled him off and a K put the frame to bed. With two gone, Erik Gonzalez singled and Jake was kissed by a 96 MPH heater off of his puss, but he hung in as a pop up closed it out quietly. The Cardinals worked a walk with two away, helping run Crowe's pitch count to 97. But he led off and was walked on five pitches. He was erased napping at first after Fraze lined out to short for another DP. B-Rey followed with a two-bagger, but it ended up another zippo for the Bucs. 

Luis Oviedo found his way back to the hill - image AT&T SportsNet

Crowe hit, but the long-lost Luis Oviedo toed the slab in the sixth, go figure. Lovie showed his stuff with two whiffs and his rust by giving up a double and a Martinez line out to center, but it added up to zero so it's all good. The Toddfather was bopped to open, and yep, the Bucs bounced into their third DP of the day before E-Gon lined out to the track. Oviedo gave up a walk but worked an overall calm seventh. The Pirates made no noise. Kyle Crick spun 11 pitches to get through the eighth. Martinez put the Pirates down in order, with Redbeard taking a ball just short of the center field fence. Richard Rodriguez got the ninth to raise a sweat; he hasn't been on the hill since April 27th. He sat the Redbirds down 1-2-3. Alex Reyes got the closing call for St. Louis and barred the gate without a squawk. 

Crowe labored again with control and hard-hit ball issues, but managed to keep it together and competitive. The Buc O depends on stringing together hits; they wasted chances in the first half of the game and then went to sleep with the bats as the last 11 hitters went down in order.

Notes:

• Wil Crowe's single was off the first pitch he ever saw as a big league batter. With a later walk, he was the only Pirate to reach base twice. Shelty defended letting him bat before his hook  by saying he's the team's best-hitting pitcher and he didn't want caught short on the bench if Jake's HBP took him out of the game at some point.
• Nice crowd on a nice day of 7,343.
• Indy will start Chase DeJong on Opening Day; Altoona will send Roansy Contreras to the bump.

Tomorrow's Game: The Bucs head to San Diego for a rematch with the Padres. The road trip will consist of six games in seven days, with a trip to Wrigley following the Friars' three-game set. The contest will start at 10:10 and be aired by AT&T SportsNet & 93.7 The Fan. Tyler Anderson opens for Pittsburgh.