Pittsburgh Pirates (9-10, 3 GB, T-4th) @ St. Louis Cardinals (12-7, - GB, 1st)
Pittsburgh is another team with pitching problems. Their starting rotation is very young and unproven except for 29-year-old “ace” Davey Potter (career record of 25-36). You may recall that there was quite a bit of bad blood between these two clubs last season, so it will be interesting to see if that carries over to 2022.
04/25/2022 (G020): STL 8, PIT 1
WP: Rosenthal (3-0), LP: Potter (0-1)
HR: PIT – Aguas (1); STL – Bean (1)
Pirates’ starter Davey Potter did not make it out of the 1st inning as the Cardinals batted around, scoring 5 times. Trevor Rosenthal took it from there, allowing 1 run in 8 innings while striking out 10 Pittsburgh batters. J.P. Crawford was 3-5 with 2 runs scored for St. Louis.
04/26/2022 (G021): PIT 3, STL 1
WP: Waldron (1-1), LP: R. Chambers (0-2), SV: Jones (4)
HR: PIT – Massari (2), Vasquez (4)
Pittsburgh took the second game of the series with a great pitching performance by Tyler Waldron. The veteran right-hander went 8 innings, giving up an unearned run on 6 hits. St. Louis starter Jake Odorizzi left the game tied after 5 innings with an undisclosed injury. Fans seated near the dugout reported Odorizzi complained of elbow pain.
Note: I sense some more “job-related stress” coming on.
04/27/2022 (G022): STL 4, PIT 3
WP: D. Chambers (2-1), LP: Jones (2-3)
HR: PIT – Massari (3); STL – Michalczewski (1)
St. Louis captured the rubber game of the series via a walk-off home run from Trey Michalczewski, one of four hits on the day for the Cardinals third baseman who also scored three of the four St. Louis runs. Taijuan Walker went seven innings and struck out 10, but the bullpen (Friend and Montgomery) blew a 3-2 lead for him in the eighth.