Texas UIL baseball bi-district playoffs set to begin later this week
Texas UIL baseball playoffs set to begin with top teams competing
The Pittsburgh Pirates have entered their first losing streak of the season after losing to the St. Louis Cardinals 11-7. Braxton Ashcraft struggled on the mound, contributing to the team's third consecutive defeat.
Photo provided by Matt Lynch
PITTSBURGH — For the first time this season, the Pittsburgh Pirates are on a losing streak.
Braxton Ashcraft had a rare shaky start and the Pirates dropped their third straight game with an 11-7 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals at PNC Park on Tuesday night.
Top 2nd, 1-0 STL: Nolan Gorman led off the inning with a solo home run to right field off Pirates starter Braxton Ashcraft (1-2)
Top 3rd, 3-0 STL: Victor Scott II hit a solo shot that bounced into the Allegheny River on 1-2 curveball left up in the zone. Later in the inning, the Cardinals (16-13) tacked on another when Jordan Walker singled home JJ Wetherholt with two outs.
Top 5th, 6-0 STL: Alec Burleson plated a run with a ground-rule double and Walker added another with a sac fly to center. After Ashcraft exited with a runner on third and one out, Gorman plated the third run of the inning with a sac fly off Hunter Barco.
Bottom 6th, 6-3 STL: Oneil Cruz got the Pirates (16-14) on the board with a solo shot off Cardinals starter (3-3). Three batters later, connected on a two-run shot to cut the deficit in half.
The Pirates' first losing streak was caused by a shaky performance from Braxton Ashcraft, leading to an 11-7 loss against the Cardinals.
The Pirates have lost three consecutive games in their current losing streak.
The Pittsburgh Pirates lost to the St. Louis Cardinals during their losing streak.
The final score of the game was 11-7 in favor of the St. Louis Cardinals.
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Top 7th, 9-3 STL: The Cardinals answered with three runs off Barco. Walker singled home a run, Gorman had an RBI groundout to first and Masyn Winn delivered a two-out, run scoring single to right field.
Top 8th, 11-3 STL: Burleson added on two more off Barco with a two-run double that split the right-center gap.
Bottom 8th, 11-6 STL: O’Hearn delivered an RBI single off Justin Bruihl and scored on a two-run single off the bat of Nick Gonzales.
Bottom 9th, 11-7 PIT: Konnor Griffin hit his first home run at PNC Park, a solo shot to right-center off Matt Swanson.
Despite some unusual shakiness, Ashcraft kept the Pirates in the game through four innings. But the Cardinals blew the game open with a three-run fifth, which resulted in a career-high six earned runs on his line. Pittsburgh could never catch up.
Alec Burleson sparked a big night for the Cardinals with two doubles, two runs and three RBI, the latter of which tied a season-high.
For the first time in his career, Braxton Ashcraft allowed multiple home runs in the same game. He had only allowed four home runs in 99.1 total innings entering play.
RHP Bubba Chandler (1-2, 4.88 ERA) will start for the Pirates on Wednesday night. The Cardinals will send out RHP Andre Pallante (2-2, 4.26 ERA). First pitch: 6:40 p.m. ET on SportsNet Pittsburgh+/93.7 The Fan.
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