Bucs starter Edinson Volquez had retired 16 consecutive batters before his opposite, Cardinals starter Adam Wainwright, skipped a single to center field to start what would become the Cardinals’ game-tying rally.
Volquez was able to get a groundball from leadoff hitter Matt Carpenter but his team couldn’t turn the double play to end the inning.
That brought Jon Jay to the plate with a runner at first.
Jay, who entered the game with a .250 average, is starting as planned this afternoon in center. Peter Bourjos, the usual starter in center so far this season, doesn’t have the hits to show for his effort. And manager Mike Matheny has repeatedly said that he intends to play both center fielders regularly.
Jay fell behind quickly in the count to Volquez before lining a triple to the track in right-center field.
Carpenter scored from first for a 1-1 game.
Jay’s triple effectively knocked Volquez from the game, however. The righty intentionally walked Matt Holliday and then yielding to a specialist to strike out Matt Adams with the go-ahead run at third base. Volquez threw 5 2/3 innings and struck out four. He walked one, and that was intentional. He got 17 outs in the game and 16 of them came from 16 consecutive batters.
Wainwright remains in the game, doing what he always talks about doing: “Outlasting the other starter.”
***
Walker drives Bucs to 1-0 lead on Wainwright
A series of three hard-hit balls were all the Pirates have been able to put together against Cardinals ace Adam Wainwright.
That’s all they’ve needed for a lead.
Doubles by Andrew McCutchen in the fourth inning put the Pirates ahead 1-0 in this pitchers’ duel at PNC Park.
McCutchen started the rally with a one-out double off the Clemente Wall. Pedro Alvarez followed with a deep drive to the left-center gap that Matt Holliday was able to track down and keep from becoming an RBI hit. Walker followed with a double to the wall in right field that scored McCutchen.
Walker tattooed a two-seam fastball that didn’t bite, hanging, deliciously, over the plate.
Edinson Volquez has sped through the Cardinals’ lineup since a leadoff single by Matt Carpenter.
Volquez has retired the 15 batters since.
***
Cards shuffle lineup: Start Descalso, lower Craig
It’s only five games into the regular season — barely any at-bats at all considered the hundreds ahead for the everyday players — but the final Sunday of the first road trip offers Cardinals manager Mike Matheny a chance to try a few jumpstart moves.
Daniel Descalso, a spring titan, gets a start.
Peter Bourjos, searching for results, does not.
And cleanup hitter Allen Craig, who has a .105 average through the first week of the season, down shifts to No. 6 in the lineup.
“Try to get him going,” Matheny said of Craig.
Cardinals ace Adam Wainwright will make his second start of the season as the club closes its six-game road trip against the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park. With a win, the Cardinals will claim consecutive series wins against two division rivals, the two division teams that played each other in the wild-card game last October.
The Cardinals will return home this evening, back in St. Louis for the first time this season. Some players have not been in St. Louis since Winter Warmup.
Matheny hasn’t been in St. Louis since the start of February.
Their homecoming will be short as they have to turnaround for the home opener Monday after at Busch Stadium. Michael Wacha will start that game.
So, too, will many of the regulars.
But coming out of spring training, Matheny spoke often about trying to get several players but specifically Descalso starts here in the early series. Descalso had a strong spring, though he never really was mentioned as a contender for the starting job at second base than Kolten Wong won. Instead, Descalso did most of his work at third base and had only a few innings at shortstop. He was telegraphed for a bench role even though in previous years he’s played his way into more playing time later in the season.
“Things can change,” Descalso said this morning.
Here is the lineup that will back Wainwright and face Pirates righty Edinson Volquez this afternoon:
1. Matt Carpenter, 3B
2. Jon Jay, CF
3. Matt Holliday, LF
4. Matt Adams, 1B
5. Yadier Molina, C
6. Allen Craig, C
7. Jhonny Peralta, SS
8. Daniel Descalso, 2B
9. Adam Wainwright, P
And this is the Pirates’ lineup for the series finale:
1. Starling Marte, LF
2. Jose Tabata, RF
3. Andrew McCutchen, CF
4. Pedro Alvarez, 3B
5. Neil Walker, 2B
6. Gaby Sanchez, 1B
7. Tony Sanchez, C
8. Clint Barmes, SS
9. Edinson Volquez, P
Check back throughout the afternoon here for news, notes, anecdotes and analysis from the ballpark. The bags are packed. Home is on the horizon.
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