Jared Jones was perfect for 5 1/3 innings before Nathan Church blooped an opposite-field double just out of reach of the third baseman for the Cardinals' only hit of the night. St. Louis whiffed 14 times and didn't put up much offense in a 2-0 loss to Pittsburgh at PNC Park on Tuesday night.
Rarely a team that goes down with a fight, the St. Louis Cardinals certainly took their swings at a win on Tuesday night at Pittsburgh’s PNC Park.
However, when they mostly whiffed, the Pirates escaped with a 2-0 victory in one of the Cardinals’ most confounding losses of the season.
Not only did the Cardinals have little luck against Jared Jones as he twirled a perfect 5 1/3 innings to open the game, but they managed just one hit and struck out a whopping 14 times on Tuesday at PNC Park.
“(Jones) looked good by getting ahead of seven of the first 10 and he continued that throughout the game, which is big for him,” manager Oliver Marmol said on Cardinals TV. “And then he was landing the curveball at a much higher rate than we’ve seen. He just gave us a really good look.”
The Cardinals’ lone hit of the night came on a 53.7 mph looper the other way from center fielder Nathan Church that burned the Pirates’ shaded defense. Church’s double toward the left side broke up Jones’ perfect game with one out in the sixth inning, and the Cards went quietly from there in the inning. They had just two at bats with a runner in scoring position (0 for 2) and they left three runners on in the game.
The Cardinals, who were eliminated from Wild Card contention last week, lost for the fifth time in the past six games. Their one win during this stretch came on Sunday when they got a tying homer from Ivan Herrera in the ninth inning and a go-ahead, two-run home run from rookie catcher Leo Bernal.
Jones breezed through the first 5 1/3 innings while striking out seven. In the sixth, Church flared a ball to where third baseman Jacob Gonzalez would have been playing if not in a shaded position while expecting Church to pull the ball.
Jones, who lost to the Cardinals on Aug. 28 when he surrendered seven hits, three earned runs and a homer at Busch Stadium, struck out nine and didn’t walk a batter. The Cardinals got just five balls out of the infield off Jones, who to 5-6 in his first season back from Tommy John surgery. The Pirates’ right-hander got 18 swings and misses in his seven innings of work. Eleven of those whiffs came on a Jones fastball that averaged 97.7 mph on a cool night in Western Pennsylvania.
Andre Pallante, who has pitched well in recent weeks despite not seeing his win total climb above 12, was the tough-luck loser. Pallante (12-8) allowed just three hits and one earned run while walking two and striking out two. Pallante pitched around a Spencer Horowitz double in the third inning and he got Ronny Simon to ground out with the bases loaded to end a threat in the fourth inning.
“He has multiple pitches that he can throw in the zone, he’s landing the curveball now and the sinker is better,” Marmol said of Pallante. “Then, it’s the mentality that goes along with that. We’re seeing an overall poise and overall presence to what he’s doing. He’s developing nicely, there’s been a ton of growth and there’s still more to be had.”
The Pirates finally got to Pallante in the sixth inning when Oneil Cruz walked, moved to second on a grounder and scored following an opposite-field single by Nick O’Hearn. Pallante jammed O’Hearn with a 1-1 four-seam fastball, but he was able to shoot the ball between shortstop and third for the run-scoring hit.
The Pirates added on an insurance run in the eighth inning when rookie reliever Cade Winquest spiked an 0-2 curveball to Bryan Reynolds for a wild pitch. Horowitz scored easily from third, while rookie Konnor Griffin was thrown while trying to go from first to third on the wild pitch.
Herrera struck out four times, while rookie JJ Wetherholt – who hails from nearby Mars, Pa., fanned three times. Fellow rookies Leo Bernal and Bryan Torres also fanned twice apiece.
