ST. LOUIS — After 14 consecutive innings of bad luck and offensive futility, the Cardinals manufactured a lone run in the sixth inning behind the hitting of Nolan Arenado and Nolan Gorman on Friday night.
That much-needed breath of fresh air took some of the edge off. The one run would’ve been enough for the victory, but the Cardinals tacked on two insurance runs in the eighth inning to snap out of the mini-funk on their way to a 3-0 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates in front of an announced crowd of 40,637 at Busch Stadium.
The win evened the series at a game apiece with two remaining.
Arenado ripped a one-out single into left field in the sixth, advanced to scoring position on a sharply hit grounder to first base by Willson Contreras, then Gorman smacked an RBI single to center field to break a 0-0 tie.
Gorman and Contreras drove in runs with singles in the eighth. Gorman has now registered 12 RBIs this season, which made him the sixth Cardinal age 22 or younger with 11 RBIs in first 14 games of the season. He joined Albert Pujols in 2001 (12) and 2002 (14), Steve Bilko in 1951 (12), Nippy Jones in 1948 (12), and Joe Medwick in 1934 (16).
The Cardinals' pitching contingent of starter Jake Woodford and relievers Zack Thompson, Drew VerHagen and Giovanny Gallegos combined for the club's second shutout win of the season.
Old friend Oviedo
Pirates starting pitcher Johan Oviedo is a familiar face in St. Louis. The right-hander from Cuba made his major league debut with the Cardinals on Aug. 19, 2020. His first 33 appearances (19 starts) came with the Cardinals from 2020-22.
The Cardinals traded Oviedo and minor-league infielder Malcom Nunez to the Pirates for pitchers Jose Quintana and Chris Stratton at the trade deadline last summer.
During his time with the Cardinals, Oviedo went 2-0 with a 4.65 ERA and a 1.47 WHIP. He struck out 130 and walked 74 in 154 1/3 innings during his Cardinals tenure. His first win came last year in his 25th career appearance with the Cardinals, 673 days after his debut.
On Friday night, Oviedo featured a fastball that reached a speed of 99.3 mph as well as a slider that reached 91.9 mph.
Oviedo got 10 swings and misses combined between his slider and curveball. He allowed one run in seven innings and struck out 10 in a loss.
Woodford throws a gem
Woodford tossed his first scoreless outing of the season but did not factor into the decision.
Woodford tossed 5 1/3 scoreless innings and allowed seven hits and just one walk. He struck out three. In his previous two starts, he hadn’t completed five innings, and he’d entered the night having allowed nine runs in nine innings.
The Cardinals defense did a tremendous job of supporting the right-hander who’d had some early season struggles in previous starts.
Woodford escaped a bases-loaded jam with one out in the second inning thanks to an outstanding defensive play by the corner infield combination of third baseman Gorman and first baseman Paul Goldschmidt.
After Woodford issued a one-out walk to No. 8 hitter Mark Mathias, Austin Hedges hit a ground ball to Arenado, who alertly stepped on third base and threw across the diamond to Goldschmidt. The throw nearly pulled Goldschmidt off the bag, but he stretched deftly and kept his cleat on the base to complete the double play and end the inning without a run having scored.
In the fourth inning, right fielder Alec Burleson and catcher Contreras combined on a run-saving play to keep the Pirates out of the scoring column when Mathias belted a two-out single to right with Canaan Smith-Njigba on second base. Smith-Njigba attempted to score from second on the play, but Burleson fielded the ball on one hop and fired a throw to the plate that carried slightly up the third-base line. Contreras snared the ball and applied the tag to get Smith-Njigba a full step away from the plate.
Tyler O’Neill, who started in left field for the first time this season, made a diving catch with a runner on to end the fifth inning. O’Neill, a two-time Gold Glove winner in left field (2020, 2021), had started 10 games in center field this season prior to Friday night.
Goldy continues to get on base
Goldschmidt’s walk to start the fourth inning extended his streak of having reached base in every game so far this season. He entered the night with the second-longest active on-base streak in the majors, one game behind San Diego Padres shortstop Xander Bogaerts.
Last year’s National League Most Valuable Player, Goldschmidt began the game with an on-base percentage of .475 overall and .548 at Busch Stadium this season.
Goldschmidt came into the game batting .354 this season, and each of his last three hits entering the day had been doubles.
