Tough opener to swallow
Rally in ninth comes up shy; HRs hurt Musgrove
ST. LOUIS — The day he was named the Pirates opening-day starter, Joe Musgrove called his dad and gushed about the appointment, recognizing that he was one of only 30 pitchers in Major League Baseball to start the first game of the season.
While the pride was obvious, Musgrove also realized that, on many other teams, he probably wouldn’t get the ball on Day 1.
The flip side of that realization was what the Pirates encountered Friday night as they faced Cardinals right-hander Jack Flaherty, a true topof-the-rotation arm and someone who had a 0.91 ERA in the second half of 2019. By taking the ball for opening day, Musgrove certainly was swimming in the deep end of the pool.
Musgrove and Flaherty duked it out in manager Derek Shelton’s debut, but the predictable outcome occurred as Flaherty’s Cardinals topped the Pirates, 5-4, to kick off the 2020 season at Busch Stadium.
Flaherty used two very good breaking balls, including a devastating slider, and mixed them with a fastball that averaged 94 mph to keep the Pirates off balance, showing why many are expecting big things from him this season.
“I thought we played well. We gave up a couple home runs,” said Shelton after his long-delayed major league debut as a manager.
“That ended up being the outcome of the game. I was really happy with how we played. I was really happy with the intensity. We faced a guy who’s a pretty good pitcher. He executed pitches.
“I think through six innings he had thrown 63, 64 pitches. He really executed well. We continued to have good at-bats. We had runners on base, then we scored to cut it down. I was happy with the effort.”
The Pirates made a game of it against Cardinals closer Kwang-Hyun Kim in the ninth inning as Jose Osuna’s two-run single cut the deficit to one. But Guillermo Heredia flew out to right field and Jacob Stallings hit into a game-ending double play.
The Pirates went down in order five times in seven innings against the righthander, who finished with a 2.75 ERA in 2019. They finally broke through in the seventh as Stallings poked a two-out single through the right side of the infield — excellent work when facing a 96-mph heater.
Josh Bell, Colin Moran and Osuna had singled to load the bases. Flaherty won a battle with right fielder Heredia, when he used his slider to set up a full-count fastball, and he froze Heredia with it. Stallings’ hit was clutch, but not enough.
Flaherty worked seven innings and allowed those two runs on six hits, all singles. He didn’t walk a batter and struck out six.
The first run Musgrove allowed came in the bottom of the third — on a solo home run to Cardinals left fielder Tyler O’Neill, a pitch that Musgrove absolutely will want back.
For much of the outing, Musgrove leaned hard on his curveball, an above-average pitch that he usually throws more to left -handed hitters. Musgrove hung a 1-1 curve, and O’Neill didn’t miss, crushing one into the Pirates bullpen.
Flaherty was perfect through three, relying on a terrific slider-fastball combo. The Pirates’ first hit came when Kevin Newman lined a fastball to center field to open the fourth. The Pirates got runners on first and second before Bell flew out to right and Moran struck out to end the inning.
Cardinals right fielder Dexter Fowler stretched St. Louis’ lead to 2-0 with his solo home run to start the fifth, cranking a Musgrove fastball into the right-field seats.
In between all of this, Musgrove found plenty of success. The right-hander’s changeup was especially good, and Musgrove used it to strike out Fowler looking and designated hitter Matt Carpenter swinging. Musgrove picked up a couple of more strikeouts on his four-seam fastball, which he actually spotted well for much of the game.
Musgrove lasted 5⅔ innings and allowed 3 earned runs on 5 hits, walking 3 and striking out 7.
One of his most important throws did not come from the mound. With two outs in the fifth, St. Louis second baseman Kolten Wong drove a ball to the gap in right-center field, directly between center fielder Jarrod Dyson and Heredia in right. As Wong safely slid into third, the ball trickled away from Moran.
Wong thought he could score. Musgrove chased after the ball and slid. Wong stumbled while taking off for home, which gave enough time for Musgrove to get the ball to Stallings from his back side — out.
The Cardinals increased their lead to 3-0 in the sixth with the final run charged to Musgrove. First baseman Paul Goldschmidt led off with a single and eventually scored when catcher Yadier Molina, starting his 16th consecutive opener, singled with two outs.