The Pittsburgh Pirates arrived Monday afternoon to the hum of an inflatable bounce house in the middle of their clubhouse, a belated birthday prank in celebration of 20-year-old rookie Konnor Griffin.
What started in perfection ended in a deflating defeat.
The St. Louis Cardinals rallied for four runs off closer Dennis Santana in the top of the ninth inning. They stopped the shutout with solo home runs by Pedro Pages and Mars and West Virginia alum JJ Wetherholt to tie the score, then got a two-run double from Jose Fermin for a 4-2 win in the opener of a four-game series before 9,787 at PNC Park.
Santana shouldered the blame for the loss.
“One of those nights where you suck,” Santana said. “I tried to do my best, but things didn’t happen as I wanted to today.”
The Pirates turned patchwork into perfection for six-plus innings, with a bullpen game becoming a gem in which their relievers retired the first 20 batters. It was the second time in four days that the Pirates took a perfect game into the seventh inning. Paul Skenes didn’t allow a batter to reach base through 6 2/3 innings Friday in a 6-0 win at Milwaukee.
With Braxton Ashcraft on bereavement/family leave — he’s expected to start Tuesday — the Pirates used left-handed reliever Mason Montgomery as an opener, followed for an inning by righty reliever Justin Lawrence before turning to rookie Wilber Dotel for four innings.
“The job was to go out there and get clean innings,” Dotel said through translator and Pirates coach Stephen Morales, “and that’s what happened.”
That went better than expected through the first six innings, as the trio combined for five strikeouts without a hit or a walk. Lefty Evan Sisk recorded two outs in the seventh before Alec Burleson broke up the no-hit bid on a ground ball to third base that Nick Gonzales backhanded but couldn’t get out of his glove in time for his throw to first base.
“I thought they did a tremendous job,” Pirates manager Don Kelly said. “From Monty to Lawrence to Dotel, who came in firing, to Sisk, as well. Gonzo almost made a heck of a play. That’s a really tough play to make and he almost made it.”
Oneil Cruz was a late scratch from the starting lineup with an illness that was being treated by the club’s medical staff. Jake Mangum replaced Cruz in center field, with Spencer Horwitz moving to the leadoff spot.
That move also proved prescient.
Brandon Lowe drew a one-out walk, advanced to second on a Bryan Reynolds groundout and scored on Ryan O’Hearn’s single to right to give the Pirates a 1-0 lead in the first inning.
The Pirates padded their advantage in the second, when Gonzales hit a leadoff double to right and scored on Mangum’s single to center to make it 2-0.
Mangum attempted to extend the lead in the fourth with a two-out single to third. He stole second base, then rounded third when Henry Davis hit a sharp grounder to the left side. Masyn Winn made a diving stop, then threw to third baseman Nolan Gorman. Mangum was caught in a 6-5-2-5-3 rundown and tagged out while stretching out toward home plate to end the inning.
Isaac Mattson replaced Sisk with two outs in the seventh and got Jordan Walker looking at a four-seamer at the bottom of the strike zone, with Pirates catcher Henry Davis winning an ABS challenge to overturn the call for the final out.
Lefty Gregory Soto gave up another single to start the eighth but got Winn to ground into a double play that saw second baseman Brandon Lowe flip the ball with his glove to shortstop Konnor Griffin, then Nathan Church to fly out to center to finish the frame.
The Cardinals prevented the Pirates from scoring their fourth shutout of the season when Pages drilled Dennis Santana’s 0-2 slider 381 feet to left field for his third home run to cut it to 2-1 in the ninth.
“After that, things escalated a little bit,” Santana said. “I tried to stay to the end, but they made me pay.”
When Santana left a full-count four-seamer over the middle of the plate for Wetherholt, the Cardinals rookie second baseman smashed it 408 feet to right-center for his sixth home run — and third in as many games — to tie the score in a heroic homecoming.
Santana unraveled. Ivan Herrera drew a full-count walk. Burleson hit a dribbler down the third-base line that stayed fair. Jordan Walker drew another full-count walk to load the bases for Fermin, who drilled a two-run double down the left-field line to give the Cardinals a 4-2 lead.
Problem was, the Pirates had gone deep into their bullpen. With two outs, they brought in righty Cam Sanders, only for Church to drive his first pitch just wide of the foul pole in right field. A video review upheld the call. Sanders struck out Church to strand a pair of runners.
The Pirates came down to the final out in the bottom of the ninth, after O’Hearn grounded out to short, Marcell Ozuna struck out. Gonzales, who went 3 for 4 to extend his hitting streak to eight games, singled to center to keep their hopes alive before Griffin lined out to end the game.
“Definitely tough,” Kelly said. “They put some good swings on the ball there in the ninth. Dennis has been so good for us, not just for this year (but) the last couple years since we got him. Just have full confidence in him. Just didn’t have it tonight.”