St. Louis Cardinals fall 5-1 to the Pittsburgh Pirates

The St. Louis Cardinals are in the midst of one of their worst droughts that I can recall in recent years. In last night’s game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Cards fell 5-1. If not for the run scored by Matt Carpenter, Pirates starter Francisco Liriano would have pitched a complete game shutout.
Aug 13, 2013; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Cardinals second baseman Matt Carpenter (13) warms up before an at bat against the Pittsburgh Pirates during the third inning at Busch Stadium. Image Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports
One week after exiting after the second pitch, Shelby Miller was back on the mound to face the pirates. He did not have that good of an outing. In 6 innings, he allowed 8 hits, 5 runs (3 earned), 2 walks, and struck out 5 batters. Miller allowed 2 home runs that led to two runs in the 2nd inning.

Michael Wacha appeared about of the bullpen to pitch the 7th and 8th inning. He was as perfect as a pitcher could get. He struck out 4 of the 6 batters that he faced.

Randy Choate pitched a flawless 9th inning and struck out all 3 batters he faced.

In the bottom of the 9th inning, Carpenter doubled and advanced to third base on a wild pitch. He scored when Carlos Beltran grounded out. Carpenter would be the only Cardinal to score all night.

“If you can take a positive out of it, you can say that the guy just was on,” Carpenter said in an MLB.com article. “It’s just one thing to come in here and say we lost the game because we didn’t play well or we had a ton of pitches to hit and we didn’t do our job when we had baserunners and left them in scoring position, that kind of thing. I mean, this guy, he was nasty tonight. He pitched great. Tip your cap and move on.”

Luckily for the Cardinals, catcher Yadier Molina returns from the DL today and it could have come at a better time. The Cards could use him behind the plate and his offensive production as well.