The Cardinals came out firing, but the offense flamed out and the Pittsburgh Pirates came on late to win the game 7-4 last night.
The Cardinals jumped all over Pittsburgh starter Ian Snell in the 1st inning, with Troy Glaus knocking in 2 runs on a double and Adam Kennedy following him up with a 2-run single. The way Todd Wellemeyer has pitched so far this year you might have thought that would be enough, but the Pirates strung together 3 straight hits and a sacrifice fly in the 4th inning to cut the lead to 4-2, then Jason Bay blasted a 2-run homer off Wellemeyer in the 5th to tie the game. The Pirates put the game away in the 8th, as Jose Bautista knocked in an RBI single off Anthony Reyes after an errant throw by Reyes earlier in the inning prevented the Cards from turning an inning-ending double play. The Pirates would tack on 2 more runs in the inning to put the Cardinals away.
Wellemeyer, while not bad, was not at his sharpest, giving up 4 earned runs on 7 hits over 6 innings. Reyes took the loss on the game after giving up 3 earned runs in his 1 inning of work. Skip Shumaker continued to solidify his spot as the St. Louis leadoff man, going 2-5 with a run scored. Albert Pujols was 2-4 with a run scored, pushing his batting average to .360 on the year, and Adam Kennedy continued to come back strong from a rough start with a 2-4, 2 RBI game.
The Cardinals will try to kick it back into gear tonight at 6:05pm (Central time), with Joel Pineiro (0-2, 8.20 ERA) trying to put his post-injury struggles behind him against Pirates lefty Tom Gorzelanny (1-2, 9.35 ERA).
