Troubles continue for Trevor Williams, as Cardinals sweep Pirates in doubleheader

It was a bad sign from the beginning for Trevor Williams, who gave up a home run to the first batter and another in the second inning to tie for the major league lead in home runs allowed.

That another start ended in another loss is the story of Williams’ season, one that has tested the right-hander’s resolve. No Pirates pitcher has started more games or thrown more innings, but the continuous losing has worn on Williams.

That was apparent after the St. Louis Cardinals battered Williams early on their way to a 6-5 seven-inning victory over the Pirates in the first game of a doubleheader Friday afternoon at PNC Park. The Cardinals got a sweep with a 7-2 victory in the second game, thanks to a six-run sixth inning.

Bryan Reynolds gave the Pirates a 2-1 lead in the late game with a two-run homer to right in the fifth that traveled an estimated 436 feet before bouncing into the Allegheny River. But the Cardinals answered with six unearned runs after Chad Kuhl sandwiched two walks around a catcher’s interference to leave the bases loaded for Chris Stratton, and the Pirates committed one mental mistake and two throwing errors.

Gregory Polanco’s gaffe was throwing home on Paul DeJong’s sacrifice fly to right, allowing Brad Miller to tag to second. Instead of having a double-play ball, third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes committed his first error by throwing wide at the plate. Josh Bell also had an errant throw to second. Then Dylan Carlson hit a three-run homer 413 feet to right to give the Cardinals a five-run lead.

The Pirates (15-36) have lost nine of the 10 games Williams (1-8) has started, and he has allowed 22 earned runs in his past four starts. Whether that affects his future in the starting rotation — or with the team, in general — is something the Pirates will have to evaluate this offseason.

“It’s something that’s outside of my control,” Williams said. “We’ve had some conversations but nothing as far as what does it look like. I trust in these guys. And you know, I felt like they’ve trusted me as well. It’s something that’s out of my control. Just take it when the offseason comes.”

Kolten Wong smacked a screamer 353 feet down the right-field line for his first home run of the season — and second leadoff homer of his career – to give the Cardinals a 1-0 lead. Tyler O’Neill sent a slider 403 feet to right-center for a two-run homer, his seventh of the season, to give the Cardinals a 3-2 lead in the second inning.

Williams has allowed 14 home runs this season, but that’s not the only thing he’s giving up. With the season shortened by the coronavirus, Williams left his wife and three young children in Arizona so as not to expose his family to covid-19. Williams said he learned at Arizona State to compartmentalize his emotions, so he’s dealing with the distraction of his missing his family the best he can without it interfering with his performance on the baseball diamond.

“I’ve learned I’ve got to be a dad at home, a baseball player on the field,” Williams said. “This has been a different season for me because usually I’m distracted at home, and usually it’s something that takes my mind off the game. But it starts with eliminating net-negatives. … We’re going to treat this season as a mental grind and a mental health grind. I think we’ve made strides as far as my mental health goes.”

Cardinals starter Carlos Martinez didn’t fare much better, loading the bases by walking the first three Pirates. After getting Gregory Polanco to pop up, Martinez struck out Reynolds swinging. But Reynolds told home plate umpire Jordan Baker his bat hit catcher Yadier Molina’s glove, and a video review confirmed the challenge.

Reynolds was awarded first base, scoring Adam Frazier to tie the score at 1-1, and Kevin Newman’s sacrifice fly to left scored Ke’Bryan Hayes to give the Pirates a 2-1 lead.

But the Cardinals regained control on O’Neill’s homer and added two more runs in the third when Tommy Edman scored on a double down the left-field line by Paul Goldschmidt, who scored on Paul DeJong’s sacrifice fly to left to make it 5-2.

Molina singled to start the fourth, went from first to third on a fielder’s choice and Kevin Newman’s throwing error and scored on Wong’s groundout for a 6-2 lead. Williams faced one batter in the fifth before being replaced by Nik Turley, allowing six runs (five earned) on seven hits with no walks and three strikeouts in 4¹/₃ innings.

“I think another positive that we can take out of (it) is that he didn’t walk anybody,” Pirates catcher John Ryan Murphy said. “He filled up the zone. Even though he gave up a couple runs early, he kept attacking, and that’s something I know Trevor wants to keep doing and growing with.”

Hayes cut it to 6-5 in the fifth with a two-out, bases-clearing single off Martinez that Edman overran in shallow right. Hayes, representing the tying run, was stranded when Colin Moran struck out to end the inning. The Pirates left runners on base at first and third in the fifth inning, when Jose Osuna flew out to right. Moran struck out again to end the sixth, this time with Frazier on second base.

The Pirates’ final chance to tie the score came with two outs in the bottom of the seventh. With Newman facing Ryan Helsley, Baker lost track of the count. A video review of the at-bat showed Newman walked, putting the tying run on first.

Newman moved into scoring position when Erik Gonzalez reached first on a throwing error by DeJong on a grounder to short. Bell walked to load the bases for Murphy, who flied out to left to end the game. The Pirates failed to take full advantage of the Cardinals’ four errors, leaving 10 runners on base.

“We got down early, gave ourselves a chance, a couple of chances at the end, to get it done,” said Murphy, who was 2 for 4 with a run scored. “We didn’t get it done in the end with the few chances that we had, but we gave ourselves chances. The more you give yourselves chances, the more chance you’re going to have to succeed.”

Williams only can hope that’s true, as he hopes to show he is trending in a different direction in his final start of the season.

“Obviously, you want results now in the season like we have,” Williams said. “You want to see the results as fast as possible, but to finish this year with 11 starts, which is a third of what we get, so the process can’t really come to fruition because we don’t have a full season. It’s one of those things that’s going to have a carryover to the offseason.”