St. Louis Cardinals Games Recap – Thursday, August 27, 2020

photo: Kwang-Hyun via Zoom (Brian Walton/The Cardinal Nation)

Good pitching was not enough as the St. Louis Cardinals dropped both ends of their Thursday home doubleheader to the MLB team with the fewest wins, the Pittsburgh Pirates. Kwang-Hyun Kim dominated in Game 1 but took the loss due to continued defensive lapses and a lack of timely hitting.



Thursday, August 27, 2020 – Pirates 4 at Cardinals 3 (eight innings, Game 1)

In the first game of a twin bill, the St. Louis Cardinals were edged by the Pittsburgh Pirates 4-3 in extra innings on Thursday afternoon at Busch Stadium.  An eighth inning rally fell short for the Redbirds.

Left hander Kwang-Hyun Kim made the start and pitched six innings, yielding one unearned run on three hits.  Kim fanned three, walked one, and threw 80 pitches, 52 for strikes.

Kwang-Hyun Kim

Giovanny Gallegos took the seventh and tossed a scoreless frame with only one hit allowed.  John Gant and Tyler Webb combined for the extra, eighth inning, as a shaky Gant gave up three runs, one earned, on two hits.  After a runner started the inning on second base, a costly fielding error by third sacker Brad Miller led to the winning run.  Webb recorded the final out. Gant was tagged with the loss.

St. Louis’ offense was kept off the board until the bottom of the fifth inning.  Yadier Molina hit his first home run of the season, a solo shot to left center field to tie the game at 1-1.

Yadier Molina

After Pittsburgh took a 4-1 lead in the top of the eighth, the Cardinals rallied.  The inning began with Dexter Fowler on second base, and Dylan Carlson led off with a single to left that moved Fowler to third.  Kolten Wong added a sac fly to plate Fowler and it was 4-2.

Tommy Edman was next with a single to center field. With Carlson on second, Paul Goldschmidt singled to right and Carlson came home to score to make it 4-3.  However, the rally ended there, as the next two Cardinals hitters, Brad Miller and pinch hitter Max Schrock, each struck out to end the game.

In addition to the Miller fielding error, Wong made a fielding miscue.  Fowler was caught stealing for the first time this season.


Thursday, August 27, 2020 – Pirates 2 at Cardinals 0 (seven innings, Game 2) 

Game 2 of the doubleheader began with rookie right hander Johan Oviedo on the mound for the Redbirds. Oviedo tossed two scoreless innings but ran into some trouble in the third.  With one out, Oviedo issued a walk and gave up back to back singles that led to a 1-0 Pittsburgh lead.  A third single plated a second run, and the Pirates were up 2-0, a lead they would not relinquish.

Johan Oviedo

Oviedo tossed two more scoreless innings and was relieved by Austin Gomber.  The left hander hurled the final two scoreless innings, yielded two hits, and struck out two. Gomber threw 20 pitches, 18 for strikes. Oviedo took the loss.

Austin Gomber

The St. Louis offense scattered just five hits over the seven innings. Paul Goldschmidt and Dylan Carlson each doubled, and Brad Miller tripled in the sixth but was stranded.  Singles by Paul DeJong and Yadier Molina rounded out the meager five-hit effort. The offense was 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position and left five men on base.

The two losses to the last-place Pirates dropped the Cardinals to 11-11, three games behind the Chicago Cubs in the National League Central Division.

Notes

Friday’s game:  vs. Indians, 7:15 p.m. CT.  RHP Daniel Ponce de Leon (0-2, 5.25) vs. RHP Triston McKenzie RHP (1-0, 1.50). FOX Sports Midwest // FOX Sports 1 // KMOX // WIJR.


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