The Pirates couldn't have asked for a much better start from Zach Duke tonight, as he went 6.1 innings without allowing a single earned run in his duel with Cardinals ace Chris Carpenter. However, the defense didn't follow his lead and committed 2 errors that lead to 3 runs.
The first error came in the first inning when Ronny Cedeno couldn't handle a chopper hit over the middle by Matt Holliday which lead to the extension of an inning where Yadier Molina would eventually hit a 2-run single. The second error came in the 6th when Andy LaRoche made a beautiful diving stop but then threw the ball away in an attempt to get an out at first, which lead to the Cardinals 3rd run of the game. Both of those errors hurt, but they weren't enough to put us away. The Pirates would have to make a couple more mistakes in order to lose this one.
In the bottom of the 8th the Pirates were down 1 and had runners on first and third with nobody out. Everyone was feeling pretty confident that the Pirates would at least tie the ball game if not take the lead. However, Andy LaRoche got hung up between third and home on a grounder back to the pitcher and did nothing to help himself by running back to the base and standing on it while Andrew McCutchen was there, resulting in them both being called out. Talk about a rally killer, it went from first and third with no out to a man on second with two out. The Pirates would manage to tie the game in that inning thanks to a couple hit batters and a wild pitch, but the mistake cost us the opportunity to take the lead.
The fourth big mistake of the ball game was in the top of the 9th. Joe Mather pinch ran for Matt Holliday, who had 4 hits on the night, and with 2 outs he took off to steal second. The Pirate sniffed it out perfectly and executed a pitch out. Ryan Doumit's throw was right on the money and the ball beat the runner there by 3-5 feet. However, Akinori Iwamura went to apply the tag to the runners right hand, which he swiftly took away while sliding his left in safely. It was a genius play by Mather, but there is really no excuse for Iwamura letting that happen. All it would have taken was a swipe tag or a more aggressive tag to record the final out of the inning and go to the bottom of the 9th still tied. Instead, the Cardinals had second life and again, Yadier Molina made us pay by recording his 4th hit of the ball game and bringing in Mather to score the winning run.
The Pirates could not get much going in the 9th and they dropped to 13-16.
This game was probably the toughest loss of the year. This was one of the few games this year that we absolutely should have won and didn't. It hurts even worse because we had the opportunity to win a game when a guy like Chris Carpenter started and pitched brilliantly. It's not very often you get a chance to come out of these kinds of games with a win, and it really takes a lot out of you to come so close and lose it because you make a couple bonehead mistakes. A ton of credit goes to Zach Duke, he pitched a gem. He struck out 7 batters in those 6.1 innings, which is a ton for him. He really had it all working tonight, and it's a shame that the Pirates couldn't win one for him.
Tomorrow's game pits Jeff Karstens against Jaime Garcia. This will be Karstens last start (barring another injury or lack of performance) as Ross Ohlendorf is slated to return to the rotation Monday. Brian Burres has earned at least one more start as he hasn't allowed a run in his last 2 outings. If Karstens pitches well tomorrow it could be interesting to see the battle between those two guys though. 7:05 first pitch. Let's Go Bucs.
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