PITTSBURGH — The Cardinals scored only their second run off Aroldis Chapman in the last 13 years on Wednesday night – but it wasn’t enough to get them a win over the Pirates.
After pushing the run across the plate in the top of the 10th inning, the Cardinals, with Ryan Helsley not available, gave up two runs in the bottom of the inning and suffered the loss in the second game of the series in Pittsburgh.
Chapman had only allowed one run in his previous 33 outings against the Cardinals, dating back to 2011, when Alec Burleson followed an infield hit by Masyn Winn with a sacrifice fly to drive in the automatic runner.
In the bottom of the inning, however, JoJo Romero relieved Andrew Kittredge with runners on first and second and allowed two singles in the span of five pitches that brought in the tying and winning runs.
The Cardinals are 15-12 in one-run decisions this year, and Helsley has earned the save in 12 of those 15 wins.
Here is how Wednesday night’s game broke down:
At the plate: The Cardinals trailed 3-1 when Willson Contreras tied the game with a home run in the eighth inning, his first homer since May 5, two days before he suffered a broken arm that sidelined him for the next 40 games … Winn had three hits, the first an RBI single in the fifth that followed a leadoff double by Brandon Crawford. Winn’s single in the 10th came when Chapman failed to cover first base … Paul Goldschmidt had two hits for the second consecutive game … After hitting a grand slam on Tuesday night, Nolan Gorman was 0-of-4 and struck out three times … The Cardinals were just 2-of-10 with a runner in scoring position.
On the mound: Miles Mikolas limited the Pirates to two singles through the first four innings, but a single, double and sacrifice fly gave them a 2-1 lead in the fifth … Giovanny Gallegos gave up a home run to the first batter he faced in the seventh, Rowdy Tellez, to make it a 3-1 game … Matthew Liberatore was able to strand two inherited runners to get out of the inning, then pitched around a one-out double in the eighth … Kittredge worked a scoreless ninth, but was pulled in favor of Romero after issuing a one-out walk in the 10th … Romero allowed the tying run on a single by Bryan Reynolds, then Oneil Cruz hit the first pitch he saw for the game-winning single.
Key stat: Winn’s infield hit was only the fifth hit by a current Cardinal against Chapman in a combined 36 at-bats in his career. The only previous run the Cardinals had scored against Chapman since 2011 came on a sacrifice fly from Gorman last year.
Worth noting: The Cardinals three wins in one-run games when Helsley did not get the save were a 12-inning victory at Miami, and wins over the Pirates and Orioles when Kittredge and Ryan Fernandez recorded the saves … The Cardinals fell to 3-6 in extra-inning games … With Lars Nootbaar set to wrap up his rehab assignment at Double A Springfield in the next few days, Ivan Herrera is set to begin a rehab assignment on Thursday night with Triple A Memphis.
Looking ahead: Andre Pallante will get the start on Thursday in the final game against the Pirates. First pitch is scheduled for 11:35 a.m. St. Louis time.
Follow Rob Rains on Twitter @RobRains
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