PITTSBURGH — There were four key takeaways Saturday night in the Cardinals’ 5-4 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates.
First was that the Pirates almost never beat the Cardinals at PNC Park. In their past 31 meetings here, the Cardinals have won 26.
Second, the Cardinals obliterate left-handed pitching. They entered the game leading the majors in slugging percentage and OPS against left-handers and they knocked out left-handed starter Jose Quintana in the fourth inning as Paul Goldschmidt, hitting safely in his 14th consecutive game, raked Quintana for three of his four hits.
Goldschmidt raised his own average against left-handers this season to .519. He is 11 for 17 (.647) in his career against Quintana.
Third, the Cardinals may have something after all in right-hander Drew VerHagen, who has pitched little this season because of his time on the injured list after coming over from Japan. Relieving left-handed rookie Matthew Liberatore, who began faltering in the fifth inning in his first big league game, VerHagen knocked off 2 1/3 hitless innings to get the game to Andre Pallante and Ryan Helsley, recording his first Cardinals win in the process.
Fourth, the Cardinals are running out of healthy outfielders. Tyler O’Neill (right shoulder impingement) already is on the injured list. Dylan Carlson, playing center because Harrison Bader didn’t start due to “light-headedness," came out in the third inning because of a tight left hamstring, which could keep him out a while. Bader ultimately did come into the game for defense in the eighth after infielder Tommy Edman had taken his first tour in center field since 2019.
And maybe add a fifth key. Edmundo Sosa displayed he was capable of being a solid defensive shortstop.
Goldschmidt, hitting .342, doubled to left in the first inning, extending his on-base streak to 28 games. That hit went for naught, but not his second double in the next inning when the Cardinals scored four runs, three of them unearned.
Pittsburgh third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes mishandled a sure double-play ball hit by Yadier Molina after Juan Yepez had walked and Carlson had singled. Yepez scored on the error and then Sosa slashed a single to left, scoring Carlson.
With two outs, Goldschmidt shot his double past first base to score Molina and Sosa.
But, after a nine-pitch first inning, Liberatore surrendered two runs in the home second.
With Bader a scratch, the Cardinals’ outfield took a different look with Corey Dickerson inserted into left field.
After Ben Gamel walked, Domingo Castillo lined a double over the head of Dickerson and off the wall. Gamel scored on a wild pitch off the glove of catcher Molina.
Yoshi Tsutsugo then doubled out of the reach of Carlson in center to make it 4-2. Liberatore wasn’t damaged further in the inning, though, as Carlson ranged into deep center to pull down Michael Perez’s long fly.
But Carlson would come out of the game after he flied to right and did not run hard to end the third. So second baseman Edman moved to center with Nolan Gorman taking over at second. Edman had played only one inning in center field previously in his career.
Edman can hit at any position, though. After Dickerson doubled to left with two out in the fifth, Edman singled him home. When Goldschmidt, on the hit-and-run, got his third hit of the night against Quintana, the left-hander was removed for right-hander Duane Underwood Jr.
Liberatore had a relatively easy time in the third and fourth but was tagged for two runs in the fifth when Dickerson, a former Gold Glover as a Pirate, had another misadventure in left field. Liberatore recorded the first two outs before Hayes singled to left. Bryan Reynolds sent a shot to left which he thought was going to be a home run as he jogged to first. It was a home run, but not the way he thought.
The liner hit the top of the left-field wall and Dickerson, close to the wall, suddenly found the ball caroming past him into left center where it rolled briskly on the warning track. By the time Edman could return the ball toward the infield, Reynolds was well on his way to a standup inside-the-parker, the first one the Pirates had hit here in nine years.
The last three inside-the-parkers given up by the Cardinals all have been struck by the Pirates, five years apart. Adam Frazier had one on Sept. 9, 2017, at Busch Stadium off John Brebbia and, before that, Alex Pressley had an inside-the-parker off Lance Lynn at PNC on April 20, 2012.
A double by Michael Chavis and Liberatore’s second walk of the night finished him at 88 pitches for VerHagen, who promptly walked Castillo to fill the bases.
The count ran full on Tsutsugo, who sent a foul just out of the sliding reach of Dickerson before grounding a ball up the middle. VerHagen missed it, but Sosa, gliding to his left, didn’t as he threw out the batter to maintain a slim lead 2 hours and 5 minutes into a contest that finally had reached an official game of five innings.
Sosa made another good play in the seventh, fielding Reynolds’ smash on the outfield grass and then whirling and throwing to first. VerHagen hit Chavis with a pitch before Edman made his first putout as a center fielder, running down Gamel’s deep fly ball.
Pallante, earning more and more high-leverage situations, breezed through the eighth, striking out one and inducing two ground balls before Helsley, throwing 102 mph, gained his second save as the Cardinals' bullpen didn't allow a hit in 4 1/3 innings.
