PITTSBURGH — When the Cardinals failed to score when they had the bases loaded in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings on Friday night, their hope was that it would not come back to haunt them.
It did.
Not being able to add on to a 5-0 lead after the third inning proved costly when the Pirates exploded for six runs in the seventh off Andre Pallante and Giovanny Gallegos to beat the Cardinals in the opener of the three-game series in Pittsburgh.
Gallegos inherited two runners from Pallante before walking the first hitter he faced, loading the bases in front of a two-run double by Carlos Santana. After a strikeout, Ke’Bryan Hayes hit a three-run homer that flipped a 5-3 lead for the Cardinals into a 6-5 deficit.
Jose Palacios followed with another blast, the back-to-back homers making it a two-run lead. The six runs equaled the biggerst inning against the Cardinals this season.
Here is how Friday night’s game broke down:
At the plate: The Cardinals scored all of their runs with two outs in the third. Brendan Donovan followed a double by Tommy Edman with a home run, Paul Goldschmidt doubled and scored on a single by Nolan Gorman and then Nolan Arenado capped the inning with his two-run homer, his 10th of the season … They loaded the bases on two singles and a walk in the fifth before Alec Burleson popped out for the third out … In the sixth, three walks loaded the bases before Gorman took a called third strike for the third out … Two singles and a walk loaded the bases again in the seventh, this time with one out, but Jordan Walker hit into a force out at the plate and Tommy Edman flied out … Goldschmidt and Arenado each finished with three hits.
On the mound: Jack Flaherty shut out the Pirates for the first five innings, scattering four hits, before running into trouble in the sixth. A leadoff walk came home to score on a single by Hayes, knocking Flaherty out of the game … Pallante stranded the two inherited runners with a pair of groundouts, but then allowed a leadoff double and a one-out walk in the seventh before he was relieved by Gallegos … The four runs charged to Gallegos were one more than he had allowed combined in his last 11 games, covering 12 2/3 innings.
Key stat: The 0-of-4 night with the bases loaded dropped the Cardinals average this season to .189 (10-of-53). The only teams in the NL with a lower average with the bases loaded are the Cubs and Marlins.
Worth noting: Walker was recalled from Memphis on Thursday when it was decided to put Lars Nootbaar on the injured list. He went 1-of-4 in his return with a hard-hit single off the shortstop’s glove … The update on the other two injured outfielders is that Dylan Carlson’s (sprained ankle) minor-league rehab assignment likely will begin next Tuesday but Tyler O’Neill, following additional testing on his sore back, has been told not to do any baseball-related activities for 10 days.
Looking ahead: Jordan Montgomery will get the start on Saturday in the second game of the series.
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