The Pirates beat the Cardinals 2-1 in 13 innings on Wednesday afternoon at PNC Park, earning their first series win of the year. Catcher Joey Bart was the hero, ending the game with a bases-loaded RBI single. Reliever Justin Lawrence was the winning pitcher, improving to 1-0, while Cardinals reliever Chris Roycroft took the loss and dropped to 0-2.
The offense on both sides was nonexistent, with neither side scoring until the 12th inning. The Pirates didn’t even have a hit until the seventh.
Pirates starter Mitch Keller had the team’s best start of the year, allowing no runs on four hits and pitching into the eighth inning. Cardinals starter Erick Fedde threw six no-hit innings before he was pulled for a reliever. Four Pirates relievers gave up just three hits in 5⅔ innings, stranding the automatic runner in three of four extra innings. Even the Cardinals’ lone run, an unearned run charged to Ryan Borucki in the 12th, came on a soft ground ball.
A full game recap can be found here. Below are the Post-Gazette’s three takeaways from the game:
Defense, defense, defense
The beauty of having Ke’Bryan Hayes on your team is he can turn your worst defensive play of the game into your best.
With runners on first and second and two out in the top of the eighth inning, designated hitter Willson Contreras hit a high fly ball about five feet in front of home plate. Bart and Endy Rodriguez, playing first base Wednesday, collided trying to make the catch, with the ball bouncing away from them. Hayes picked up the ball near home plate and had the presence of mind to tag out baserunner Thomas Saggese.
It was the type of error that loses baseball games — if not for Hayes’ quick thinking.
“I think I've said this over the course of the last five years: He's the best defender in baseball when he's on the field and when he's healthy,” manager Derek Shelton said. Shelton added Hayes is a “game changer.”
Keller, watching from the dugout, agreed.
“It's just the player Ke'Bryan is, a high-IQ player,” Keller said. “Just really good plays.”
Save for that near catastrophe, the Pirates defense was pretty good on Wednesday. They played an error-free baseball game — the popup was ruled a single, the Cardinals’ only hit with runners in scoring position until extra innings — and made the routine plays.
38-year-old right fielder Andrew McCutchen had a really nice running catch in the seventh inning, tracking down a Brendan Donovan liner that had an .840 expected batting average. Left fielder Tommy Pham made a perfect throw home to nail a runner and keep the game scoreless in the 10th inning.
Stellar Keller
Keller was both excellent and efficient, throwing just 39 pitches in his first four innings. It allowed him to throw 7⅓ innings, retire 15 in a row midway through the game and avoid a two-baserunner inning until the eighth.
He used all six of his pitches but primarily favored his fastball, something he said helped with his efficiency. He also said he never shook off Bart.
“They were swinging early and often, so we were just trying to strike off-speed stuff and did a lot of that then used the fastball pretty well,” Keller said. “ ... Overall, just really good game and just trying to be as efficient as possible.”
It’s a reassuring sight for the Pirates, as Keller did not have his best stuff in his previous outing, the home opener against the Yankees. In that game, he allowed seven runs in 3⅔ innings, walking four. He had just one walk Wednesday, coming on his final batter.
“I just have the most confidence in myself that one bad start doesn't define who you are as a player or as a person or anything like that,” Keller said. “Going out there every time, just doing the best that I can. Having that freedom in my brain and in my mind really lets me go and flush bad ones and good ones. After tonight, it's on to the next one.”
The Pirates offense — or lack thereof — meant Keller left with a no decision. It’s a clear problem for the team. Pittsburgh won’t win many ballgames if it takes 12 innings to score, but Keller’s success Wednesday meant the Pirates got away with it.
Bullpen finding new roles
The offense has been a seasonlong struggle, but Wednesday’s game showed the growth the bullpen has made. Down David Bednar, expected to be the team’s closer, and Colin Holderman, expected to be the primary setup man, the Pirates have found ways to get outs and finish games.
Wednesday was the bullpen’s best outing of the year. Lefty Caleb Ferguson pitched out of Keller’s jam in the seventh, then started the eighth with a strikeout. Dennis Santana pitched two scoreless innings but had a hand in three, finishing the ninth, pitching a scoreless 10th and opening the 11th with a strikeout. The Cardinals’ only run was charged to Borucki, albeit unearned, but even he limited the top of the St. Louis lineup.
Righty Justin Lawrence might have been the best of all, pitching the final 1⅔ innings and stranding the automatic runner in the 13th. He struck out two batters in that frame.
“Whenever my name gets called, does not matter what inning, I'm down there and I'm ready to go,” Lawrence said. “ ... Ferguson and Santana, they're doing an incredible job back there. Borucki’s always coming in with traffic and he's doing his thing. If I can kind of get in that mix, I get in that mix and we just go and we roll with it.”
To some extent, the Pirates bullpen has had success because it’s been thrown into uncomfortable situations down Bednar and Holderman. Roles are fluid, but so far, several Pirates arms have had success in very different situations.
It’s something that gives Shelton confidence as the season continues and he determines who can be trusted in what situations.
“I think that's something we gotta find out with these guys,” Shelton said, “because, again, we really like the [collective] stuff. When we acquired Lawrence, we liked the stuff. We just gotta figure out how we're gonna slot them in. I think today was a perfect example of getting really good matchups and our guys executing at a really high level.”
It may have taken 13 innings, but the Pirates have won three of four headed into a series at Cincinnati. With plenty of season left to play, any win is something to celebrate.
“We'll take it,” Shelton said. “Series win, especially in the division. Sometimes they're not pretty, but it's a series win.”
First Published: April 9, 2025, 10:21 p.m.
Updated: April 10, 2025, 2:00 a.m.
