PITTSBURGH — The St. Louis Cardinals finished the first month of their season in a style they wouldn’t mind spending the months ahead.
Oh, sure they could nitpick and ask for more power from the middle of the order or more innings from the starter. But as they spent April plumbing for an identity and waiting for some consistency to emerge, they ended it with a 7-3 victory against Pittsburgh at PNC Park that was every bit the sum of their crystallizing parts. The Cardinals (14-12) got key RBIs from cleanup hitter Nolan Arenado, add-on thump from pinch-hitter Matt Carpenter, a reassuringly competent outing from reliever Genesis Cabrera, and they stole outs when the Pirates offered.
They were opportunistic on defense.
They sustained their offense.
Arenado drove home two runs with doubles in his first two at-bats, and Tyler O’Neill added a solo homer to give the Cardinals an early 3-0 lead. O’Neill’s homer traveled over the bullpens in center field and landed an estimated 426 feet away from home plate. The Pirates turned a few walks from starter John Gant into their first run, and then Carpenter doubled the Cardinals’ offense with one swing. The veteran lefthanded batter hit his second three-run, pinch-hit homer in as many games.
Carpenter has five pinch-hit home runs in his career, and two have them have come since lunchtime Thursday.
The Cardinals had the sturdy defense they’ve sought to go with the get-the-lead, expand-the-lead, that allowed a bullpen, with a hiccup, to hold the lead once Cabrera entered.
In the seventh inning, Cabrera made his first appearance in a game since Wednesday’s frightening inning when he hit two Phillies on his first two pitches, including a fastball that hit Bryce Harper in the face. Harper said on social media that he was fine an hour or so after being hit, and he spoke with Philadelphia media Friday to express how thankful he was to be at the ballpark. He’s not yet back in the lineup.
Harper set Cabrera a text, according to manager Mike Shildt, that expressed empathy for the pitcher, acknowledged that the pitch was not on purpose, and even to offer to talk to the young lefty if he wanted.
Looking to protect a three-run lead with the middle of the Bucs’ order coming up and two righthanded hitters coming to the plate, the Cardinals turned to Cabrera as their third reliever into Friday’s game. He needed 10 pitches to retire the side in order in the seventh, and six of those pitches were strikes. He missed the strike zone with his first two pitches, before dialing back over the plate to finish the inning with a groundball, a strikeout, and then another groundball, the last one spun into an out by Arenado.
The lefty, who had hit only two of the previous 122 batters he faced before back-to-back bruises Wednesday, showcased why he continues to belong in the majors with the mix of pitches to switch-hitter Bryan Reynolds.
He showed Reynolds a 95.5-mph fastball.
He dropped an 87.2-mph changeup.
Cabrera finished the at-bat with a 79.6-mph curve.
Reynolds swung over it.
He returned to handle the eighth for the Cardinals and finished the evening by retiring all six batters he faced. He had two strikeouts.
Cabrera’s first inning was the breeziest of the early innings by relievers. Tyler Webb did not complete his assigned inning before leaving the bases loaded for rookie Kodi Whitley to handle. Freshly back from the alternate-site camp, Whitley committed a balk before he threw a pitch to allow one run in. A wild pitch brought home a second run charged to Webb. Whitley walked the first batter he faced to bring the tying run to the plate. That’s as far as Adam Frazier got before Whitley steadied himself and ended the inning with a groundball.
That how Gant got his game started.
The Cardinals’ righthander hit a ball to the outfield before he allowed the Pirates to do it, and through his first three innings the Pirates got only two balls past an infielder. Gant did not allow many hits (three), but he did have to tiptoe around his walks. He walked five total, including two to start the fourth inning. Only one of the five batters Gant walked scored, and that was in an inning where he chucked a pitch into the stands as the umpire called time in the middle of his delivery.
The Pirates helped by running recklessly into outs.
In the third inning Ka’ai Tom tried curiously to advance two bases on a sacrifice bunt. Second baseman Tommy Edman, after tagging first, saw the wide turn Tom took and threw behind him for the freebie out. In the fifth inning, the Pirates’ No. 2 hitter Erik Gonzalez hit a ball that did not get past catcher Andrew Knizner’s reach.
Knizner coolly tagged Gonzalez and threw to third for the tag out and double play. Gonzalez did not even get into his run to first before he was out.
The Cardinals added a run in the ninth by turning two hit batters and an error into Justin Williams touching the plate.
