Ortiz’s Struggles Continue as Pirates Fall 6-4 to Cardinals

PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Pirates relied on Luis Ortiz to try and complete a sweep over the St. Louis Cardinals at PNC Park on Wednesday afternoon, but the right-hander’s struggles this season continued.

Ortiz was roughed up for five runs in only 3.1 innings as the Pirates (57-70) went on to lose 6-4 to St. Louis.

Recap

The Cardinals (56-72) collected seven hits off of the Pirates’ starter while drawing five free passes against him. Ortiz sat down five batters on strikes and had to labor through his outing, throwing 90 pitches (55 strikes).

Paul Goldschmidt got the Cardinals on the board with an RBI single to center. Richie Palacios then drove in a pair to make it a 3-0 game. Palacios finished the game with three hits in four at-bats.. The following inning, Nolan Arenado drove in two more runs for St. Louis with a double.

Masynn Winn beat out a double play ball in the top of the ninth to give the Cardinals an insurance run.

Ke’Bryan Hayes connected on his ninth home run of the season, a solo shot in the fifth inning to right-center field. Hayes finished the game 2 for 5 with a home run and a double.

Connor Joe was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to get the Pirates on the board and Jason Delay drove in a run on a groundout to make the score 5-3 in the sixth. Joe added another run in the ninth with a double to center.

The loss snaps the Pirates’ five-game winning streak against the Cardinals.

Key Moment 

The Pirates had the tying tun on second base down a pair in the bottom of the sixth, but Hayes bounced out to second base to end the inning. Pittsburgh couldn’t capitalize on multiple chances throughout the game.

Star of the Game

Richie Palacios went 3 for 4 with a double, a walk and two RBIs. He’s now hitting .389 on the season for the Cardinals.

Stat to Know

• Andrew McCutchen recorded three doubles on Wednesday, the first three-double game of his 1,997-game career. He had recorded 36 two-double games, the last of which came on June 24 against the Miami Marlins.

Noteworthy

• McCutchen was on base in four of his five plate appearances. He has three-multi hit performances over his last five games. Over that span, he’s hitting .364 (8 for for 22) with three doubles and two home runs.
• In addition to McCutchen and Hayes, Liover Peguero had a two-hit games — both singles.
• Cardinals starter Zack Thompson (3-5) completed 5.0 innings for the third time in his career. Two of those instances came against the Pirates — Wednesday and June 13 last season. He also did it in his last appearance against the New York Mets on Friday.
• The Pirates went 0 for 9 with runners in scoring position.
• The game was in a rainless rain delay for 1 hour and 32 minutes.
• The Pirates optioned right-hander Dauri Moreta to Triple-A before the game to make room for Ortiz.

Up Next

The Pirates’ homestand continues as the Chicago Cubs come to town for a four-game series beginning Thursday night. The Pirates have yet to announce a starter and it’ll be left-hander Justin Steele (14-3, 2.80 ERA) for the Cubs. First pitch: 7:05 ET.