PITTSBURGH — It’s still possible the Pirates will lose 100 games this season, but they aren’t going quietly into that good night.
For a time, in Monday’s game against the St. Louis Cardinals, everything looked set up for the Pirates to take a quiet, routine loss. Their old nemesis Albert Pujols had smashed a two-run, sixth-inning homer to give the Cardinals a two-run lead.
And yet, the Pirates fought back. They plated one in bottom of the sixth and another on a Jack Suwinski solo shot in the eighth, setting up walk-off heroics to stave off triple-digit losses for at least another day.
Oddly enough, though, the Pirates didn’t do much to set themselves up for victory in the ninth. Cardinals right-hander Giovanny Gallegos began the frame and walked the first three batters he faced to load the bases. Gallegos was then replaced by lefty JoJo Romero with the bases juiced, with shortstop Oneil Cruz stepping in. And again, he didn’t have to do anything.
Romero threw four straight balls to Cruz, giving Cruz his first walk-off plate appearance on a walk-off walk, of all things. The Pirates won, 3-2.
Those heroics, if they can be called that, also made sure Pujols’ continued march up the record books came in a losing effort. It wasn’t for lack of trying on his part.
In the top of the sixth, Pujols stepped to the plate for the visitors. In his career, he’d hit 34 home runs at PNC Park, his most in any road ballpark.
It hasn’t really mattered who’s been on the mound. Pujols just dominates the Pirates. This night was no different. Right-hander Mitch Keller was on the mound, and after pitching five scoreless innings, he couldn’t escape the inevitable Pujols either. In a 2-2 count, with a runner on first, Keller hung a curveball and Pujols smashed it over the wall in left field.
It is Pujols’ 703rd career home run, the third-most all-time, and his 2,216th career RBI, passing Babe Ruth for second-most in MLB history. It is also his 35th at PNC Park, giving him the 14th-most long balls in the stadium’s history. Everyone else in the top 20 played for the Pirates at some point. It was his 57th against the Pirates in his career, meaning more than 8% of his career homers have come against Pittsburgh.
Beyond Pujols’ exploits, though, Keller was solid, rounding out a season that can only be categorized as a huge step in the right direction.
His five innings of two-run ball give him a 3.20 ERA over the last 21 starts of the season. That line of demarcation matters, because May 31 was the day he began using his sinker. At the time, his ERA was over 6.00, but the strong finish means that his season-long ERA dropped to 3.91 and a FIP of 3.88. It’s an undeniable step forward from his disappointing 2021.
And immediately after Pujols’ homer, in the bottom of the sixth, center fielder Bryan Reynolds, voted the team’s most valuable player earlier in the day, roped an RBI double to the gap in left-center to chip into the lead. Two frames later, rookie outfielder Jack Suwinski mashed a solo shot to right to tie the game.
That put the Pirates in a position to win the game in the ninth. All they did from there was watch the balls go by and take their free passes. It may not be the flashiest win, but the Pirates will take them how they get them at this point.
