Pirates fail to capitalize against Cardinals, as Tommy Edman homers, has 3 RBIs

The four reviews should have served as a cue for the Pittsburgh Pirates that this would be a game of close calls.

One they would eventually lose.

Tommy Edman hit a two-run home run and a sacrifice fly for three RBIs to lead the St. Louis Cardinals to a 4-3 win over the Pirates on Friday night before 12,662 at PNC Park.

But the last three umpire reviews proved significant, as the Pirates twice failed to capitalize with runners in scoring position. They stranded eight runners, including one on third base in the fifth and with the bases loaded in the sixth.

“It was a weird night,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “Both teams lost their challenge. Then there were plays after that that were challengeable. What you see is why replay is in place. They got all the calls right but one of those weird ones where both teams lost it and then there were (reviews) after that.

“I thought this umpire crew did a really nice job because sometimes they can say, ‘No, we’re not going to challenge.’ But they were all plays that were challengeable and they got them all right.”

Pirates first baseman Colin Moran was involved in two reviews in the eighth inning, winning the first and losing the second. The Pirates cut their deficit to one run when Michael Chavis hit a leadoff double and scored on Moran’s single to left. When Yoshi Tsutsugo grounded to first, Cardinals first baseman Paul Goldschmidt turned what appeared to be an inning-ending double play to get Moran out at second.

A video review, however, showed that Moran slid under the tag of shortstop Paul DeJong. Kevin Newman followed with a two-out single to center, and Pirates third base coach Joey Cora sent Moran home. Harrison Bader’s one-hop throw beat him to the plate, where Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina was waiting to tag Moran for the final out. The home-plate collision also was reviewed but this time was upheld.

Shelton defended Cora’s decision to give Moran the green light.

“I thought it was the right amount of aggression,” Shelton said. “Two outs, you’re going to make them come up and make a throw. If that ball hits the mound and kicks away or he makes a bad throw, you’re like, ‘With two outs, why didn’t you send him?’ It’s easy to second-guess that but I thought that was the right send.”

Anthony Alford led off the bottom of the ninth with a single to left, then stole second base. After another review, Alford was declared safe. But Cardinals closer Alex Reyes got Bryan Reynolds and Ben Gamel looking at called third strikes and Ke’Bryan Hayes to ground out to clinch the win and his 29th save.

The Pirates (47-82) lost their challenge in the fourth inning, when Michael Chavis was thrown out at first by Molina. It would prove to be an ominous sign for the game.

The Cardinals (65-62) got back-to-back doubles by Edmundo Sosa and Bader to take a 1-0 lead in the fifth. With two outs, Pirates lefty Dillon Peters (0-2) left a 2-1 fastball over the middle of the plate for Edman, who sent it 407 feet to center for a two-run home run to stretch it to 3-0.

“That was just a miss,” Peters said. “Had a couple of mistakes that inning, and I got punished for it.”

The Pirates answered in the bottom of the fifth, when Jacob Stallings singled off J.A. Happ (8-6) and scored on a Yoshi Tsutsugo triple to center to cut it to 3-1. Despite having no outs, the Pirates failed to bring Tsutsugo home from third.

They trimmed it to 3-2 in the sixth, when Newman drew a bases-loaded walk against Cardinals reliever Luis Garcia to score Colin Moran. But Garcia struck out Alford with the bases loaded to escape the jam.

The Cardinals added to their advantage when Paul DeJong pinch-hit for a triple and scored on Edman’s sacrifice fly to center to increase their lead to 4-2 in the seventh. The Pirates cut into the deficit once again in the eighth, when Chavis hit a leadoff double off the Clemente Wall and scored on Moran’s single to left to make it 4-3.

But when the Pirates had their chances to win late in the game, they couldn’t come through in the clutch – even when they got the call.

“We lacked the big hit,” Shelton said. “We continued to come back. We got the hit in the eighth with Kevin (Newman) but, other than that, we had opportunities to score and we just did not break this game open. It goes back to early in this game, when we had opportunities and just did not score.”