Game one wasn’t one to remember. Jared Jones took the bump against rookie lefty Quinn Mathews, who was searching for his first career major league win. Jones wasn’t great—he allowed eight baserunners and three runs over 4.2 innings—but was still able to strike out six batters. Meanwhile, Mathews chugged right along against a Bucs lineup that has struggled mightily against lefties all year. He made it into the sixth inning, striking out seven while walking just one batter. The only blemish on his day was a Jared Triolo single that scored Jake Mangum, as Big Tri continued to turn around his season numbers.
Evan Sisk, Gregory Soto, and Yohan Ramirez were all great in relief, navigating around a comedy of errors by the Pirates’ defense to keep the game within reach. The Bucs were able to get some baserunners throughout the game, as Oneil Cruz and Triolo both had multi-hit performances, but the bats were never able to capitalize, and the Cardinals took this one 4-1.
Game two was a tough matchup on paper. The Bucs had a bullpen game lined up with Lake Bachar as the designated opener and were matched up against Kyle Leahy, who has been one of the best pitchers in MLB during the second half of the season. However, he wasn’t at his sharpest in this one, as Brandon Lowe immediately jumped on him for a solo homer in the first inning to give the Bucs an early lead.
Bachar looked solid and was untouched through his first two innings. He gave up a solo homer to Joshua Baez in the third, but he did his job and passed the baton to the next bullpen arms. Evan Sisk came in for one out to finish the third inning while Carmen Mlodzinski finished warming up, and the Bucs’ bats started to show life. After Jake Mangum reached third on an error by Baez, Jacob Gonzalez did what the Pirates have consistently struggled to do for weeks now and knocked him in with less than two outs.
Then, in the top of the fifth, Rafael Flores Jr. continued his fantastic rookie campaign, belting his seventh homer of the year off lefty Brycen Mautz to score both Bryan Reynolds and Cruz. Meanwhile, Mlodzinski rebounded from his string of rough outings to give the Pirates 3.1 innings of one-run ball, with the lone run being unearned. He allowed just one baserunner, and by the time he left the game, the Pirates had a 5-2 cushion. They added on in the ninth with a Nick Gonzales double that scored Lowe, and the lockdown trio of Gregory Soto, Luke Weaver, and Mason Montgomery slammed the door on the Cardinals to take game two 6-2.
Game three was an entertaining one. Braxton Ashcraft took the ball for the Buccos looking to put a cap on his unbelievable August, during which he had posted a 1.91 ERA entering the game. Braxton was great from the get-go, remaining scoreless through the first four innings. On the other side of the ball, the Bucs kept getting runners on and bringing them around. Esmerlyn Valdez hit a two-run homer in the second, Cruz scored on a horrific Ramón Urías error in the third, and Jared Triolo hit an absolute moonshot to give Ashcraft a 4-0 lead in the fifth.
Braxton got into some trouble in the fifth and yielded two runs on a pair of singles, but he still finished with a more-than-respectable line of five innings and three strikeouts. He had thrown only 71 pitches, but Don Kelly decided to give the young arm some rest and employ the Bucs’ newly dominant bullpen to salt the rest of the game away.
Kirby Yates was fantastic, and Brandon Lowe drove in a run with an opposite-field single to extend the lead to 5-2, but Camilo Doval struggled in his inning, giving up a pair of runs. Still, he left the game with the lead, and Yohan Ramirez, Weaver, and Montgomery put the Cards to bed.
Even though the Bucs fell way behind in the playoff race with a brutal start to August, they’ve rebounded recently and have now won four of their last five series. Barring a miracle, it may be too late for them to get back into Wild Card contention, but the Bucs have ensured that they will be playing at least semi-meaningful games in September. If they continue to play like they did in this series, they have the potential to make a run.
The Series MVP is Oneil Cruz, who has continued to absolutely crush the ball since returning from the IL a few weeks ago. He reached base multiple times in each game of the series, stole two bags in game three, and looks more than comfortable at the plate.
The Bucs get yet another off day tomorrow before returning home to face the miserable San Francisco Giants. Paul Skenes will get the ball for game one, looking to build off his excellent last outing. Let’s Go Bucs!
