By Dave Holcomb
St. Louis snaps their seven game losing streak with a dominating performance over Pittsburgh on Thursday night. The Cardinals scored 13 runs on 17 hits while they kept the Pirates off the scoreboard.
Much of the shutout can be credited to Cardinals Starting Pitcher Joe Kelly, who made his fifth start of the season. Kelly did an excellent job of mixing up his pitches to keep the Pirate hitters off-balance, and certainly a fastball that tapped out at 98 MPH didn’t hurt. Consistently, Kelly’s heater was 95-96 MPH for his six innings.
Kelly did not allow a Pirate hit until the 5th inning as Outfielder Jose Tabata led off the inning with a single. Shortstop Jordy Mercer killed the inning with a double play ground out. The next two hitters would reach and with Second baseman Neil Walker coming to the plate with two runners in scoring position, the Buccos threatened to cut the then 4-0 Cardinal lead in half. Walker, however, grounded out to first base.
The Pirates only other scoring chance came in the 2nd inning when Kelly was having trouble finding the plate. The Cardinal pitcher walked three hitters in the inning. To two of the batters, Kelly threw a 3-2 slider in the dirt. He retired fellow Pitcher Charlie Morton to end the inning.
Kelly left the game after 102 pitches thrown, a career high, and allowed no runs on three hits and four walks.
He also had a fine day at the plate. The former high school outfielder showed off his speed beating out an infield single in the 4th, and then chopped a grounder over Third Baseman Pedro Alvarez in the 6th.
The Cardinals had six other players who also had multiple hits. Catcher Tony Cruz, playing in place of injured Yadier Molina, led the way with three hits and two RBI. First Baseman Allen Craig reached base three times, driving in two and scoring two more, while other position players Carlos Beltran, Matt Holliday, David Freese, and John Jay all had two hits and at least one RBI.
The game was still within reach when Pirates Starter Charlie Morton left the game after six. In fact, the Cardinals first three runs were scored via wild pitch, hit-by-pitch, and then a double play. Morton gave up five runs on 10 hits, two hit batsmen and five strikeouts.
It was when Pittsburgh put in Relief Pitcher Jeanmar Gomez did the score get out of hand. Gomez faced eight hitters and retired only one, giving up seven runs. It did not help that 3B Alvarez committed his NL leading 20th error in the mist of the Cardinals big 7th inning.
St. Louis probably felt they had to make up for scoring just seven runs in the first four games of the series in Pittsburgh. During the losing streak, the Cardinals hit just .183 and scored 1.4 runs per game.
The Red Birds did everything but hit a home run Thursday night. The team has only one long ball since the All-Star break.
The loss is Morton’s third on the season (3-3) and snaps Pittsburgh’s five game winning streak. They however, took four of five from St. Louis and find themselves in first place for the first time after the trade deadline since 1992. The Pirates lead the Cardinals by 1.5 games.
Pittsburgh opens another home series Friday night against Colorado.
Mike Matheny’s Cardinals hope to keep the bats hot against the Reds as they finish up their 11 game road trip in Cincinnati. The third place Reds are 5.5 back of first, but only four behind the Cardinals for the Wild Card lead. If the playoffs started today, three teams from the NL Central would make the playoffs.
Friday’s probable starting pitchers in Cincinnati are Shelby Miller for the Cardinals and Bronson Arroyo for the Reds.
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