ST. LOUIS — Any grand plans the Pirates may have harbored about leaving Atlanta and finding greener grass in St. Louis, well, they disappeared in about 15 minutes Monday night.
Maybe less.
By the end — with Yu Chang dropping a routine throw on a sacrifice bunt, which allowed another run to score — it was more of the same frustration for manager Derek Shelton’s team, as the Pirates suffered a 7-5 loss to the Cardinals on a steamy, sticky night at Busch Stadium.
While the ballpark felt like a sauna, one group that’s the opposite of hot right now is the Pirates, who have lost seven in a row and are suffering through a difficult stretch.
Monday featured a sixth-inning implosion, where they coughed up five runs and blew a five-run lead. Anthony Banda and Chris Stratton combined to give up four earned runs, allow two home runs and record just five outs. Two runs scored against Banda that were charged to Mitch Keller, too.
“We’re just in a stretch where we have to make our own breaks,” Shelton said. “We have not done that.”
After it seemed like the Pirates (24-35) might’ve found something on the west coast, when they swept the Dodgers amid a stretch where they won eight of 12, there’s hardly a flicker of that positivity left.
Once the Pirates’ 5-0 edge evaporated and Shelton decided to stick with Stratton for a second inning of relief, the Cardinals (35-27) didn’t take long to snag their first lead of the game.
With two hits in the bag Monday amid an MLB-caliber season that featured a 46-game on-base streak, first baseman Paul Goldschmidt had a full count when Stratton tried to sneak an inside fastball past one of the better right-handed hitters in baseball.
It didn’t work. Goldschmidt turned and unleashed a 420-foot blast to left-center, the red-clad crowd erupting and Stratton dealt another frustrating outcome.
“We just threw too many balls in the middle of the plate,” Shelton said. “This is way too good of a lineup to miss in the middle of the plate. We didn’t execute pitches.”
This followed Stratton on Saturday facing five Braves hitters, retiring none of them and getting charged with five earned runs.
Stratton also allowed a walkoff home run to San Diego’s Trent Grisham back on May 29. His ERA now sits at 5.68.
Banda, meanwhile, was supposed to be a bullpen stalwart, their first or second lefty out. It hasn’t worked out that way thus far, with his ERA at 6.59.
As quickly as the Pirates appeared to be on a winning path, the Cardinals ripped the rug out from under them with a big sixth.
Banda, however, fell behind, 3-1, to third baseman Brendan Donovan, who cranked a misplaced changeup to right field for a two-run double. After right fielder Juan Yepez found some grass with a bloop single, center fielder Dylan Carlson answered Michael Chavis’ three-run homer with one of his own.
This pitch from Banda wasn’t quite as ugly. It was his first offering to Carlson, a curveball down and away but still a strike. Swinging from the right side, Carlson got plenty of barrel on it, sending the pitch 406 feet into the Cardinals bullpen in right-center.
One bright spot for the Pirates was another solid start from Keller, who pitched fairly well on what was a hugely uncomfortable night. Keller was charged with two earned runs over 5 1/3 innings, but he also only walked one and struck out two.
Keller used his sinker more than any other pitch at 30%, though he was also a little more diverse than we’ve seen him, throwing his four-seam fastball 26% of the time, his curveball 24% and his slider 16%.
The outing continued a recent trend of improved performance from Keller, who has a 2.82 ERA in five appearances (3 starts) since May 18, with 18 strikeouts in 22 1/3 innings.
“Just a better mentality of attacking hitters,” Keller said. “I think the sinker has helped a lot. Keeps right-handed hitters honest. That’s why my stuff has gotten a little better.
“In big situations, too, just taking a step back and really thinking about the situation, knowing who’s on deck and what to throw, I think that’s helped a lot too.”
After starting a first-inning double play with his backhanded flip to Chang, Diego Castillo gave the Pirates an early 1-0 lead with a solo homer, his first long ball since May 7. Facing Cardinals lefty Zack Thompson, Castillo pulled an inside heater over the left-field fence.
The Pirates rallied for more in the fifth. Ke’Bryan Hayes swung on a 3-0 count when he found a fastball at the bottom of the zone for a run-scoring single.
Chavis got a changeup over the middle of the plate and did not miss, crushing one 417 feet into the left-center field seats.
“I thought [Monday] was gonna be the night,” Shelton said of the Pirates snapping out of their funk. “But we have to create our own opportunities. We didn’t do that in the sixth inning [Monday].”
Jason Mackey: jmackey@post-gazette.com and Twitter @JMackeyPG.
First Published: June 14, 2022, 3:00 a.m.
