Clint Hurdle didn't have many options. In fact, he felt he had only one option.
With the Pirates and Cardinals tied 2-2 after nine innings Monday night, Hurdle had already used relievers Michael Feliz, Francisco Liriano, Richard Rodriguez and Kyle Crick for an inning each after Trevor Williams went the first five.
Hurdle also didn't want to use Felipe Vazquez, even though the situation screamed for the closer to come into the game. Vazquez had pitched each of the previous two days and thrown a combined 35 pitches. Hurdle had already determined that he wasn't even going to go to Vazquez in a save situation, let alone in a tie game.
So, Hurdle was left with three choices: Chris Stratton and rookies Luis Escobar and Clay Holmes.
Hurdle thought about calling on Stratton, then decided against it because he had pitched two innings the previous day. Escobar wasn't a consideration since he had a grand total of 3 1/3 major-league innings to his credit.
So, Hurdle went with Holmes, who has shown promise of late after a rough start.
It turned out to be the wrong choice.
Paul Goldschmidt hit a one-out grand slam and that gave the Cardinals just enough cushion to hold off the skidding Pirates, who rallied for three runs in the bottom of the 10th, 6-5 at PNC Park in the opener of a four-game series. The loss was the eighth in 10 games since the All-Star break for the Pirates (46-53), who continue to fade from contention.
The Cardinals loaded the bases with one out on a walk, a single and a hit by pitch. Holmes got ahead of Goldschmidt in the count 1-2 but the veteran first baseman drove the next pitch over the right-center field fence for the fifth grand slam of his career. Just like that, the Pirates were down four runs, which turned out to be one run too many to overcome.
“I tried to throw a sinker away from him and he did a good job of staying on it and hitting the other way,” Holmes said.
“Clayton has the ability to get anybody out when his command is in play,” Hurdle said. “Obviously, in that situation when he gets to two strikes, he has a chance to get a ground ball or a strike if he makes his pitch, but he didn’t and (Goldschmidt) hit it out of the ballpark.”
Holmes talked more about taking the loss:
This loss was a particularly tough one to swallow because the Pirates nearly tied the game in the bottom of the 10th after drawing to 6-5 on back-to-back doubles by Starling Marte and Josh Bell, then a two-run home run by Jung Ho Kang on the first pitch from closer Carlos Martinez.
Corey Dickerson followed with a single and Kevin Newman reached on shortstop Paul DeJong's fielding error. Elias Diaz then bunted into a force play at third base in his attempt to move the runners up. Pinch-hitter Jacob Stallings then singled to right field, but Jose Martinez threw out Newman trying to score the tying run. The call was upheld after a replay review.
Third base coach Joey Cora’s decision to send Newman in a one-run game with less than two outs was easy to second guess. However, Clint Hurdle defended Cora.
“I’ve got all my coaches’ backs when they have to make a decision, have a split-second to make a decision,” Hurdle said. “We’re trying to win the game. We’ve got reports on every outfielder’s arm strength and accuracy and we play on those. The guy made a good throw and I guess the replay review said he was out.”
Newman appeared to beat catcher Andrew Knizner’s tag from some replay angles.
“I thought he tagged me a little high on the leg,” Newman said. “It seemed like from what we saw that they might have been able to overturn it, but it’s not up to me. It’s definitely a tough one.”
However, the Pirates got no closer. After Newman was thrown out, Adam Frazier flied out to right field to end the game. If Newman had been held at third base, he would have easily scored the tying run on the fly.
Newman talked more about the difficult loss:
‘I don’t rank losses,” Hurdle said. “I get asked these questions by (the media) a lot. How tough? How hard? It’s hard, it’s tough but the game doesn’t stop. We play again tomorrow, and our guys will continue to fight and play.”
Newman, though, wasn’t quite as stoic and admitted it was a tough defeat to take for a struggling team.
“One like tonight, where you have a chance to tie the game like that, kind of wears on you a bit, but it’s part of the game and we’ll wash it off and come back tomorrow,” he said.
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