最新杏吧原创

There were times, there really were, when it appeared like the Pittsburgh Pirates would do their damnedest to get the Cardinals back in the game.

But the Cardinals were sticking to their script on pitching.

And they didn鈥檛 take the chance to stick it to the Pirates鈥� shoddy defense with an offense that seemed just as restricted as their starter.

The Cardinals held true to their pledge to keep starter Kyle Leahy on a pitch count, no matter how well his game was going. Leahy was gone after three innings and the tie game vanished soon after. The Pirates hit two home runs, including a three-run shot shortly after Leahy left, to carry them to a 6-2 victory Saturday afternoon at Busch Stadium.

Pittsburgh hit almost as many home runs in the game as the errors they committed in one inning. They mishandled three potential outs in the sixth, and yet the Cardinals could only squeeze one run from that opportunity in the sixth inning and did not challenge the Bucs鈥� lead again.

Rookie lefty Brycen Mautz allowed the decisive runs in the middle innings as both teams ran a parade of available relievers through the game鈥檚 final six innings. It was the Pirates that took advantage of the bullpen entering early and pitching often.

The Cardinals, now 68-69, have 10 home games remaining in the regular season.

A quick hook (as planned)

Other than a solo homer allowed in the first inning to an infielder who sure does sock a lot of home runs, Leahy continued his length streak of pitching well.

For the 12th consecutive game, he did not allow more than two runs.

But for the second consecutive start, he was severely limited on pitches.

The Cardinals continue their 鈥渢aper鈥� of Leahy鈥檚 workload regardless of situation within the game. Leahy pitched three solid innings and the Cardinals and Pirates were tied, 1-1, and yet, as scripted, out came Leahy after throwing around 50 pitches. The target was slightly less than that, but Leahy was sharp, effective, and he completed the third on 51 pitches.

He allowed four hits and struck out three and Brandon Lowe鈥檚 first-inning homer was the only welt. Yet, the Cardinals are making the call on reducing Leahy鈥檚 work now to avoid a significant hike in workload from last year as a reliever to this year in the rotation. They are making that choice based on their belief and study that innings banked now will make him healthier and stronger when more of him is asked in 2027.

Baez has a blast at home

Like so much of his career to this point, Joshua Baez鈥檚 production had mostly been on the road.

About to finish the first homestand of his big-league career, Baez had played three series on the road before reaching Busch Stadium. As a teenager he once visited Busch, took batting practice as a newly signed draft pick, and then pronounced that he would return to the ballpark post haste.

He recently described that declaration the hastiness of youth.

He noted his path has 鈥渂een a rollercoaster.鈥�

Well, as that ride neared his first game in 最新杏吧原创, Baez debuted with three homers in his first three at-bats and four homers on the road trip. In his fourth home game, he landed his first home run at home.

In the third inning, Baez chased Pirates starter Lake Bachar with a solo homer into the left-field seats. Baez hit a slider an estimated 370 feet for his fifth of the season and first of his career at Busch. The homer momentarily tied the game by answering Lowe鈥檚 homer in the first inning.

Mautz mans the middle

Brought up from Class AAA Memphis on Saturday morning to provide immediately length and possibly a long-term lefty, Mautz did exactly that.

Mautz inherited a tie game from Leahy and then had that picked apart by the Pirates.

An error in left field by Baez allowed speedy Jake Mangum to turn a leadoff single in the fourth to a runner on third right from the beginning against Mautz. The Pirates got a pair of singles from the bottom part of their lineup to break the 1-1 tie. The bottom third of the lineup is where all of the runs came from against Mautz (0-1).

He put himself in trouble with the leadoff batter.

The single to Mangum became a run, and a leadoff walk to Bryan Reynolds in the fifth became worse. Pirates catcher Rafael Flores Jr. came up with two on and two out and offered a chance for Mautz to quell the threat from Pittsburgh. He did not. The lefty鈥檚 full-count pitch caught too much of the plate, and Flores drove it into the bleachers. Flores鈥� seventh homer of the season widened the Bucs鈥� lead to 5-1.

It also bloated Mautz鈥檚 line, as the lefty allowed four runs on five hits through three. He struck out the side in order in his final inning to finish his afternoon.

Mautz struck out eight in three innings to become the first Cardinals reliever with that many strikeouts in that few of innings. His eight strikeouts tied a Busch Stadium-record by a reliever.

Winquest gets long-awaited debut

He traveled cross-country with the Yankees, even warmed up in the Bronx, and still despite almost a dozen different opportunities did not make his major-league debut earlier this season as a Ruel 5 pickup by the pinstripes.

No, Cade Winquest had to wait 鈥� until August.

The Cardinals鈥� prospect was returned to their organization in mid-April without an inning for the Yankees, and that meant the Cardinals, and only the Cardinals, could keep him off the 40-player roster until needed in the majors. That promotion came this past week, and still Winquest had to wait.

In his third game 鈥� with the Cardinals wearing a third different jersey 鈥� Winquest made his major-league debut in the seventh inning Saturday. He struck out two. He faced the minimum in his debut inning by catching the Pirate who walked and then tried to steal. Winquest would follow that inning with a scoreless eighth as well to complete his debut.

He averaged 95.9 mph on his sinker and 95.5 mph on his four-seam fastball, but it was the curveball that he featured the most, throwing it 10 times in his first 24 pitches.

Bucs belch up 3 errors, get away with it

That same mumble, fumble defense that the Pirates played Friday night in the series opener eventually found them all at once in the sixth inning.

At the end of a long road trip that took them through California before a pitstop in 最新杏吧原创, Pittsburgh has played in this series like a frayed, meandering team 鈥� especially on defense. The Pirates committed three errors in Friday鈥檚 loss.

They committed three errors in Saturday鈥檚 sixth inning.

They did not prove too costly.

Shortstop Nick Gonzales made two fielding errors at shortstop, and center field Oneil Cruz dropped a routine fly ball in center field. The Cardinals loaded the bases with one out thanks to the Bucs鈥� inability to clearly catch a potential out. Jordan Walker skipped into what could have been a groundout, but Gonzales botched it.

Walker came around the score when he took second on Gonzales鈥� failure to turn a groundball toward the base into an out at any base Gonalez misplayed the grounder as he was trying to touch second and field it at the same time.

With two on and two errors already on the scoreboard, Jose Fermin skied a fly ball to center field that, at best, would allow Walker to tag up. Instead, Walker scored.

Cruz dropped the ball, and by the end of the play the Cardinals had the tying run at the plate and two runners in scoring position.

The Cardinals got a run to trim the Bucs鈥� lead to three.

They did not take full advantage of the Pirates鈥� miscues to rally in the game. As the potential tying run, Nolan Gorman popped up to the third baseman. Baez followed with a chance to drive in two or tie the game with a homer, and the lifted a popup.

Gonzales, those two errors clattering off his glove, caught it for the final out.