COMON Network

By COMON Network Team

Final Score – Pittsburgh Pirates (15-34) 5 def. St. Louis Cardinals (22-24) 1

WP: Steven Brault (1-3) LP: Austin Gomber (0-1) SV: N/A

Steve Brault pitched his first career complete game and struck out eight as the Pirates took the opener of the series against the Cardinals at PNC Park.

Brault allowed just two hits, one of which started the scoring. In the third, Tommy Edman singled home a run to give the Cardinals a 1-0 lead. In the fourth the Pirates got four. Gregory Polanco hit a three-run homer before Jacob Stallings doubled home a run. Josh Bell’s sac fly made it 5-1 in the fifth and the scoring ceased.

The Bucs compiled nine hits to the Cards’ two. The teams go at it twice tomorrow in a doubleheader on the North Shore. Game 1 of the twinbill is slated for 4:05 p.m. There will be no Pirates commentary tomorrow for the doubleheader given our team will be out and about covering HS football. Commentary returns two fold Saturday, with Pitt Football Commentary and Pirates Postgame Commentary.

COMON Network Team Commentary

KYLE DAWSON

• Steven Brault, ladies and gentlemen. That’s baseball, huh? First career complete game. First time he had thrown a pitch in the ninth inning as a big leaguer. Eight strikeouts, just two walks and two singles. Three hard-hit balls all night. Take a look at the Baseball Savant feed and you’ll find the changeup was tossed 31% of the time (34 times compared to 37 fastballs). The change got a whiff on 10 of the 16 swings that were taken at it. In fact, 33% of swings overall produced a whiff from Brault’s arsenal tonight. Good mix and I love seeing Brault attack and do it with consistency. Sixty five of 110 pitches for strikes tonight. Good stuff.
• It’s one game so don’t panic, but Gregory Polanco put the ball in play four times. Two hits, a three-run home run. Three hard-hit balls. How about that?

Player of the Game – Steven Brault (PIT)

RYAN SIMPSON

• Steven Brault finally showed up tonight. THAT is the pitcher we need to see when #43 takes the ball. The last Pirate pitcher to throw a CG was Jamo in August of 2018. Brault gave up three balls in play over 95 MPH and used all five of his pitches perfectly. I really like the guy even though he is a below average pitcher, but he finally had himself a career performance tonight.
• I guess Polanco read Joe’s article before the game and wanted to prove him wrong. His four exit velos tonight were: 101.5, 109.3, 94.3, 101.7; that is very very very good. Maybe Polanco can turn it around for these last few games so the Bucs can trade him in the winter.
• Though the Pirates only scored five runs tonight, everyone was involved. When every starter reaches base via hit or walk, you give your team a chance to win. That is what I have been so critical about all season with this team; they are not giving themselves a remote chance to compete in the game. Tonight was a different story and it will go down as one of the few highlights of this 2020 season.

Player of the Game – Steven Brault (PIT)