Pirates bullpen blows lead as Cardinals use 6-run 7th inning to cruise to 3rd straight win

For the Pittsburgh Pirates, it’s a familiar refrain: The bullpen blew it.

The Pirates couldn’t protect the one-run lead provided by Billy Cook’s three-run home run – the first of his major league career – in the sixth inning against the St. Louis Cardinals.

Masyn Winn’s game-tying homer was the first of four hits in a six-run seventh inning that saw the Cardinals capitalize on an error, draw three walks and get a bases-clearing double by Jordan Walker to cruise to a 10-5 win Wednesday night at Busch Stadium.

“We can’t put guys on base,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said on the SportsNet Pittsburgh postgame show. “We can’t give free passes. We had an error in that inning, too, which hurt us. We cannot give away outs or put guys on base when they’re not getting base hits. It seems like when we give up runs, it’s because of the fact we’re giving away extra bases.”

It was the third consecutive loss and fifth in six games for the Pirates (71-81), who allowed double-digit runs for the 13th time this season and clinched their sixth consecutive nonwinning season.

The Cardinals (77-75) clinched a series win before Thursday’s finale.

David Bednar (3-8) surrendered a solo homer to the first batter he faced when Winn hit a 1-1 curveball to left to tie the game. After Goldschmidt reached on a throwing error by Yorke and Nolan Arenado drew a full-count walk, Shelton removed Bednar with one out in favor of lefty Jalen Beeks.

But Donovan drew a walk to load the bases and Ivan Herrera hit a sharp grounder that Yorke stopped at third but drove in Goldschmidt to give the Cardinals a 6-5 lead. Nootbaar followed with a single to center to score Arenado for a two-run advantage and keep the bases loaded.

Walker, who hit the go-ahead home run in the Cardinals’ 3-1 win on Tuesday, cleared the bases with a double to the left field corner for a five-run lead that Michael McGreevy (2-0) protected with four strikeouts over three scoreless innings.

Bednar’s ERA ballooned to 6.17 but, despite struggles that caused the Pirates to remove the two-time All-Star closer from his ninth-inning role, Shelton said there haven’t been any conversations about shutting Bednar down for the rest of the season.

“As long as he’s healthy, we’re going to continue,” Shelton said. “I think it’s important to figure out how to get him right. His last outing was good. Two outings before was good. We need to find some consistency there. That would be really important.”

The Pirates left a pair of runners in scoring position in the second inning when Nick Gonzales singled to left and Bryan De La Cruz reached on a throwing error by Winn at shortstop. After Gonzales advanced to third on Yorke’s fly out to right and De La Cruz stole second, Cardinals starter Sonny Gray got Jared Triolo looking at a full-count sinker for a called third strike.

The Cardinals capitalized against Pirates starter Jake Woodford – whose contract was selected from Triple-A Indianapolis – in the bottom of the second. Arenado led off with a single to left and Brendan Donovan sent a 1-1 sweeper 394 feet to right for his 13th home run and a 2-0 lead.

Isiah Kiner-Falefa hit a one-out double and Bryan Reynolds was hit by a pitch in the third, only for Joey Bart to ground into a double play by Arenado at third to end the frame.

The Cardinals came through with two more runs in the four-hit third. Alec Burleson hit a two-out single to left, then scored when De La Cruz misjudged Paul Goldschmidt’s fly ball to the wall in right. Arenado singled to left to drive in Goldschmidt for a 4-0 lead.

The Pirates answered with a four-hit fourth inning to cut their deficit in half, taking advantage of a pair of misplays by Walker in right. First, Walker lost sight of Andrew McCutchen leadoff double, then missed a deep fly ball by Gonzales. McCutchen scored on a sacrifice fly by De La Cruz, and Gonzales scored on Yorke’s pop fly that dropped inside the first base line to cut it to 4-2.

Triolo singled to center but Gray got Cook swinging at three straight sweepers for his 200th strikeout, then fanned Kiner-Falefa to strand runners at second and third.

Nootbaar was ejected in the bottom of the fourth after arguing a called third strike on a sinker inside with home plate umpire D.J. Reyburn, who also ejected Cardinals manager Oli Marmol.

The Pirates got a couple breaks in the fifth. First, Burleson was thrown out by De La Cruz at second on Goldschmidt’s fly to right. Then Arenado dropped a double that bounced on the left field line and into the stands for a book-rule double, preventing Goldschmidt from scoring. Lefty Joey Wentz replaced Woodford and struck out Donovan to escape.

After Gray struck out the first two batters to start the sixth, Yorke singled to center and Triolo to left. The Cardinals brought in lefty Matthew Liberatore, only for Cook to drive his first-pitch fastball 380 feet to right field for a three-run shot to give the Pirates a 5-4 lead.

“We got exactly what we needed. We got to the right spot,” Shelton said. “We got Wentz. We were in a deficit game. He came in and got the left-hander out, then Billy hit the home run to put us ahead. Then we got a lot of the good matchups we wanted and we just weren’t able to complete it.”