Final
Snell dominates as Pirates sink Cardinals
Aug 20, 2008 - 4:17 AM By Thad Kemlage PA SportsTicker Contributing WriterST. LOUIS (Ticker) -- Ian Snell threw a gem and the Pittsburgh Pirates took advantage of some shoddy defense in a 4-1 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday.
Snell (5-10) allowed four hits over seven innings. He also struck out eight en route to his first win since July 28. Snell was 0-1 with a 9.00 ERA against St. Louis in four previous starts.
"It feels good to have my velocity back," Snell said. "I challenged all their hitters tonight and I think I threw more fastballs than I've thrown all year."
"I think that's the best game he's thrown all year," Pirates manager John Russell said. "He's been building toward this and hopefully he can maintain some of it."
Ryan Doumit had a three-hit night, including a double off Cardinals starter Braden Looper (11-10) in the first inning to score Jack Wilson for a 1-0 lead.
Snell made it stand up, and the Pirates took advantage of two errors to score three runs in the ninth for a 4-0 cushion.
Doumit and LaRoche began the ninth with singles. After a sacrifice, Doumit scored when catcher Yadier Molina failed to field a slow ground ball by Andy LaRoche.
Rookie Steve Pearce drew a bases-loaded walk and Luis Rivas lifted a fly ball to Joe Mather, whose throwing error allowed Jason Michaels to score.
Those runs proved to be crucial. Adam Kennedy had an RBI double in the ninth and the Cardinals loaded the bases, but John Grabow struck out Brian Barton to end it.
"Every time we play these guys, it's not an easy win," Russell said. "The ninth inning has always been an adventure when we play these guys."
Looper was the tough-luck loser. The righthander allowed a run on three hits and retired 12 consecutive batters at one point. He is 2-3 in his last six starts but has a 2.03 ERA over that span, receiving one run of support.
"I came out in the first and definitely was not very sharp and unfortunately it cost us the game in the first inning," Looper said. "I've felt good recently but it just seems that it's not been quite good enough."
Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols came into the game with a .444 batting average against Snell - including four home runs - but had one hit in four at-bats.
- NL
FINAL
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
- - - - - - - - - - - -
PITTSBURGH 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 4 5 0
ST LOUIS 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 6 2 (FINAL)
BATTERIES: PIT - IAN SNELL, SEAN BURNETT (8TH), DENNY BAUTISTA (8TH), JOHN
GRABOW (9TH), T.J. BEAM (9TH) AND RYAN DOUMIT
STL - BRADEN LOOPER, KYLE MCCLELLAN (8TH), RON VILLONE
Aug 19 11:19 PM - NL
AT ST LOUIS - SCORING UPDATE
SINGLE BY ADAM KENNEDY SCORED RYAN LUDWICK.
SITUATION: 1 RUN IN, A KENNEDY ON FIRST, Y MOLINA ON SECOND, 2 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: PITTSBURGH 4
ST LOUIS 1 BOTTOM, 9TH
DUE UP FOR ST LOUIS: C IZTURIS (.250, 0-FOR-3)
Pirates 4, Cardinals 1 Bot 9, 0 OutsAug 19 11:14 PM - NL
AT ST LOUIS - SCORING UPDATE
ERROR BY JOE MATHER ALLOWED JASON MICHAELS TO SCORE.
SITUATION: 3 RUNS IN, S PEARCE ON FIRST, A LAROCHE ON THIRD, 1 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: PITTSBURGH 4
ST LOUIS 0 TOP, 9TH
DUE UP FOR PITTSBURGH: D BAUTISTA (.200, 0 HR, 1 RBI)
Pirates 4, Cardinals 0 Top 9, 0 OutsAug 19 10:49 PM - NL
AT ST LOUIS - SCORING UPDATE
BASES LOADED WALK TO STEVEN PEARCE SCORED ADAM LAROCHE.
SITUATION: 2 RUNS IN, S PEARCE ON FIRST, A LAROCHE ON SECOND, J
MICHAELS ON THIRD, 0 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: PITTSBURGH 3
ST LOUIS 0 TOP, 9TH
DUE UP FOR PITTSBURGH: L RIVAS (.222, 0-FOR-3)
Pirates 3, Cardinals 0 Top 9, 0 OutsAug 19 10:46 PM - NL
AT ST LOUIS - SCORING UPDATE
FIELDER'S CHOICE BY ANDY LAROCHE SCORED RYAN DOUMIT.
SITUATION: 1 RUN IN, A LAROCHE ON FIRST, J MICHAELS ON SECOND, A
LAROCHE ON THIRD, 0 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: PITTSBURGH 2
ST LOUIS 0 TOP, 9TH
DUE UP FOR PITTSBURGH: S PEARCE (.228, 1-FOR-3)
Pirates 2, Cardinals 0 Top 9, 0 OutsAug 19 10:45 PM - NL
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
- - - - - - - - - - - -
PITTSBURGH 1 1 1 0
ST LOUIS 0 0 0 (BOT 1)
CURRENT PITCHERS: PIT - IAN SNELL
STL - BRADEN LOOPER
DUE UP FOR ST LOUIS: S SCHUMAKER (.305, 8 HR, 41 RBI)
R ANKIEL (.277, 23 HR, 63 RBI)
A PUJOLS (.348, 26 HR, 77 RB
Pirates 1, Cardinals 0 Bot 1, 0 OutsAug 19 8:28 PM
Related News
- Tuesday Open Thread Dec 26
- Vote on the Cardinals next best prospect - 2024 Dec 25
- Cardinals in the Lab: Offseason Tracker Dec 24
- What Would You Do With $33M? (An Open Thread Discussion) Dec 23
- Pirates Top Games of 2023: No. 6 - Drew Maggi gets his moment Dec 23
- The Pirates got it right with Andrew McCutchen Dec 22
- John Mozeliak has not closed the door on the Cardinals adding a starting pitcher Dec 22
- Bucs Arghticles: Pirates’ Andrew McCutchen makes comments after signing Dec 22
- Pirates targeting first baseman in upcoming MLB Draft Dec 22
- Vote on the Cardinals’ best prospect - 2024 Dec 21
- Bucs Arghticles: Pirates sign Ryan Mattson Dec 21
- Pirates Top Games of 2023: No. 7 - Johan Oviedo shuts out the Royals Dec 20