By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
The St. Louis Cardinals could not overcome an early four run deficit, falling in their first National League Central matchup of the season to the Pittsburgh Pirates 8-4 on Monday at PNC Park in Pittsburgh.
The Pirates started off hot in the first two innings, first scoring in the first on a home run from Joey Bart, his first of the season. Pittsburgh added three more runs in the bottom of the second, two on a single from Isiah Kiner-Falefa that scored former Cardinal Tommy Pham and also Endy Rodríguez. Kiner-Falefa later came home on an RBI single by Ke'Bryan Hayes, putting Pittsburgh up 4-0 after the first two innings.
The Cardinals added runs in back to back innings, first scoring in the fifth on an RBI single from Brendan Donovan that drove in Michael Siani. In the sixth, catcher Yohel Pozo, who was recently recalled from AAA Memphis with Iván Herrera going to the 10-day IL, hit his first home run of the season, and just the second of his career, cutting the Pirates lead in half.
For Pozo, this was his first game in a Cardinals uniform, but it was also his first game since 2021, when he played for the Texas Rangers. Pozo, a native of Venezuela, made it to the big leagues in 2021 with the Rangers and hit .284 with one home run in 21 MLB games. In five games with Triple-A Memphis this season, Pozo leads the team with a .333 average to go with three doubles, two homers and six RBIs.
Pittsburgh opened up the scoring in the seventh inning, and ultimately put the game away with a four run frame, their final runs of the game. An Andrew McCutchen double scored Kiner-Falefa and Hayes. McCutchen came home on an RBI triple from Bart. Bart scored the final run of the inning thanks to a sacrifice fly by Oneil Cruz
Over the final two innings, St. Louis scored their final two runs, first getting an RBI ground out from Jordan Walker, scoring Donovan. In the ninth inning, Masyn Winn hammered his first home run of the season to left center field for the final run of the game.
Matthew Liberatore took the loss on the mound for the Cardinals, pitching 6.1 innings, giving up five runs on eight hits, but striking out seven batters. Donovan led the way hitting, going 3-4 with one RBI.
St. Louis and Pittsburgh will go again tomorrow, in a battle of aces for the two teams. Sonny Gray will take the mound for the Cardinals against Paul Skenes for the Pirates. First pitch is at 5:40pm, pregame coverage will be joined at 5:30 on KY 102 (102.5FM).
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