New Pirates Pitcher Chris Archer had a rocky start, but the rest of the team had his back and the Pirates edged the St. Louis Cardinals 7-6 last night.
In his first start since his trade to the Pirates, Archer gave up five runs on seven hits, including a solo home run from Matt Carpenter, but he did show some promise as he struck out six batters. The bullpen took over and Kyle Crick, after blowing the save effort regained his composure and was given credit with the win, and Felipe Vasquez was awarded the save, his 25th of the season.
After Carpenter’s home run in the first half of the first, the Pirates responded with three runs of their own. They never looked back until the 8th as they built up a 5-2 lead. It was tied in the top of the eighth but in the bottom, the Pirates would take the lead. Gregory Polanco had 3 RBI’s on the night.
The Pirates are now 6.5 games back of the Chicago cubs, and have a slight edge over the cards for third in the wild card race. The two teams play again tonight and you can hear it on WCCS AM 1160 and 101.1 FM starting at 6:40
