The path narrows
Pirates lose and cede more ground to Central leaders
ST. LOUIS — Should this six- game road trip, now mercifully over, ultimately sink the Pirates’ season, they went out in fitting fashion.
Trying to protect a one- run lead in the seventh inning, it was their bullpen that underperformed, ultimately leading to a 6- 5 loss Wednesday to the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium.
We’ll get to the nuance of who did what and why, but don’t lose sight of the bigger picture here: When it comes to the All- Star break, the Pirates went in like a lion and have come out like a lamb.
They won five of seven the week before and
dispersed for the early part of last week having emerged victorious in 12 of 17, enough to have them 2 ½ games out of first place in the National League’s Central Division.
Wednesday’s dropped them to 1- 5 on this trip, which included a weekend sweep in Chicago. Coupled with the Cubs’ win Wednesday, the Pirates ( 4550) now sit 6 ½ games back.
“The off- day couldn’t come at a better time,” Chris Archer said. “These first two series haven’t been great. Plenty of season left. I like our team. I like our guys. We’re better than what we’ve shown the past seven or eight days.”
While there should be at least some concern over the offense — the Pirates had just 12 extra- base hits in six games, and Josh Bell is hitting .111 ( 3 for 27) with no homers or RBIs since July 6 — the bullpen drew the attention Wednesday.
The key sequence came in the seventh, after Francisco Liriano allowed a single and a walk to start. That’s when Pirates manager Clint Hurdle emerged from the dugout, grabbed the ball from Liriano and handed it to Michael Feliz.
It was an interesting move, although there are plenty of numbers you can pull to support Hurdle’s decision. Ultimately, though, it comes down to this: The Pirates bullpen has struggled during key parts of this season, and the bulk of those problems have involved getting the ball to Felipe Vazquez.
“Based on stuff and history and everything else, Feliz was the guy we wanted to go to,” Hurdle said. “Didn’t get it done. That’s a decision I made.”
Why did Hurdle go with Feliz instead of sticking with Liriano or turning to Richard Rodriguez, who has an MLB- best stretch of 19 consecutive scoreless innings?
Hurdle was worried about what he might get out of Liriano in searing heat and with the 35- year- old lefthander pitching on the second of back- to- back days.
It’s also true that Liriano has a 5.25 ERA since June 19, but be careful reacting to relief pitchers’ recent trends; the sample sizes are small.
You also can’t ignore the man at bat: No. 3 hitter Paul Goldschmidt. Feliz (. 192) and Liriano (. 198) have had similar success against right- handed hitters this season, but the Cardinals first baseman handles lefthanders and right- handers differently; he entered the game with an OPS of .727 against right- handers compared to .935 against lefthanded pitchers.
It also makes sense that Hurdle would want to turn to Feliz based on his own recent performance; he entered
the game with a 1.80 ERA and a .184 batting average against in 14 appearances since June 8.
Then there’s history: Goldschmidt was 0 for 3 in his career against Feliz but 3 for 9 against Liriano, with six walks.
“Feliz’ stuff matches up better against Goldschmidt and [ No. 4 hitter Tyler] O’Neill better than anyone else we’ve got,” said Hurdle, who also wanted to hold back Rodriguez in case they got to the eighth ahead, a residual effect of Kyle Crick’s recent struggles ( 12.46 ERA in his past five appearances).
As has become a theme this season, Feliz’ fastball command lacked. He worked the count to 2- 2 and left a 96 mph four- seamer up in the zone.
“I think one of my best pitches is a fastball,” Feliz said. “I just missed right in the middle.”
The home run spoiled another solid start from Archer, who went six innings and allowed three earned runs on five hits and two walks while striking out eight. He wasn’t as sharp as he was last Friday in Chicago, but he was more than serviceable, giving the Pirates a chance to win the game.
Starling Marte gave the Pirates an early lead with his solo home run in the top of the first inning. The Cardinals got that run back in the bottom half when O’Neill took a low- and- outside slider from Archer to right for an RBI- single.
St. Louis jumped ahead, 2- 1, behind right fielder Jose Martinez’s sacrifice fly in the second inning before the Pirates strung together four singles to score three runs in the fourth.
The first of those three came from an odd source — Archer — who shot a lowandoutside cutter to right for the third RBI of his career. Archer also enjoyed the first multihit game of his career.
Two batters later, Bryan Reynolds blooped a single into shallow center field to score two runs and stretch the Pirates’ lead to 4- 2.
O’Neill crushed the Pirates this entire series and got them again in the fifth inning, when he hit a mistake from Archer — a slider up in the zone — over the fence to trim the Pirates’ lead to 4- 3.