With the Penguins playing host to the Flyers in game five of the first round of the NHL playoffs, the Pirates were looking to reward the 23,509 fans that were in attendance with a series-opening win over the reigning World Champion St. Louis Cardinals. Unfortunately for the fans and the Pirates, they were unable to do so as they fell to the Cardinals 4-1 in Friday’s contest.
For the 10th time in their first 13 games, a run was scored in the first inning, this time by the Pirates – in a way that hasn’t happened since 1980. In the bottom of the first inning, Alex Presley led off the game in a big way for the Pirates. Presley hit the 1-0 delivery from Cardinals pitcher Lance Lynn to deep centerfield, where Cardinals outfielder Skip Schumaker was unable to make the catch at the fence, crashing into it as a result. The speed of Presley allowed him to race around the bases for the inside-the-park home run. It was the first inside-the-park home run since Freddy Sanchez had one in 2008, and the first at PNC Park since Jack Wilson’s in 2004. It is also the first leadoff inside-the-park home run for the Pirates since Omar Moreno hit one in 1980.
“It’s pretty rare and I wasn’t expecting it,” Presley said of his feat. “I thought I’d get a triple for sure when I saw him miss it, but when he got hurt out there and couldn’t get up, it helped my chances a lot.”
With the electric start and the fans on their feet, it looked to be the start of something promising for the Pirates. Lynn and the Cardinals bullpen held the Pirates off of the scoreboard for the remainder of the game however.
“When he was good, he was very good,” Pirates Manager Clint Hurdle said. “There was some in between inconsistencies with command that elevated the pitch count. All-in-all, he walks out of the game, we are down 2-1 without his best outing, so he competed well and kept us in the game.”
Making his home debut for the Pirates was Charlie Morton. In my game preview, I stated that Morton would have to go longer than 71 pitches over five innings in his outing. Working deep into counts all night forced the Pirates 28-year-old right-hander out of the game after five innings and 93 pitches. Morton surrendered just one earned run, but an error by him and Barmes, his first of two in the game, in the second inning led to an unearned Cardinal run. An RBI single by Beltran in the fifth would prove to be the difference for the Cardinals. St. Louis would tack on two runs in the top of the ninth on a sole home run by David Descalso and an RBI double by Rafael Furcal.
Despite taking the loss, Morton did strike out six batters and got ahead of 14 of the 23 batters he faced on first pitches. He did however, face six three-ball counts and struggled with his command, which hurt his efficiency.
“I think that’s why I wasn’t efficient but those things (command) will come with repetition,” Morton said.
Morton and Hurdle both felt that Morton found the most success with his breaking ball.
“I think it was effective in the way I was using it,” Morton said. “Usually it’s a really good pitch for me – I just don’t use it. I felt like it was good enough where I could go after guys with it so I threw it. I’ve never doubted my curveball.”
The offense could only muster four hits on the evening; none after the fifth inning. After their respective 0-3 days at the plate, the Pirates 6-7-8 hitters dropped their collective average to .080 on the season. Rod Barajas, Pedro Alvarez and Clint Barmes are now 8-99 on the season, with six of those hits being extra base hits.
The win goes to Lynn, moving his record to 3-0 on the campaign. Morton takes the loss, his first decision of the season.
The Pirates will look to bounce back in game two of the series as Kevin Correia (1-0, 1.50 ERA) will take the hill for the Pirates (5-8) against Jake Westbrook (2-0, 0.64 ERA) for the Cardinals (10-4). First pitch is scheduled for 7:05.
Pirates:
Presley – 1-4
Tabata – 2-4
McCutchen – 0-4
Walker – 0-2
Jones – 1-3
Barajas – 0-3
Alvarez – 0-3
Barmes – 0-3
Morton – 0-1
Navarro (PH) – 0-1
Cardinals:
Furcal – 1-4
Carpenter – 0-3
Holliday – 1-5
Beltran – 2-4
Freese – 1-4
Molina -1-4
Schumaker – 0-0
Komatsu – 0-4
Descalso – 1-4
Lynn – 1-3
Photo credits: Getty Images
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