It took 10 innings for someone to score. That someone, unfortunately, was wearing a Cardinals uni. Ryan Ludwick scored on a broken bat infield single from Brendan Ryan.
Nobody touched home during regulation. Chris Carpenter and Jeff Karstens each tossed scoreless baseball. Karstens allowed seven singles and no walks over six innings. He benefited from Erik Kratz throwing out two runners trying to steal. Evan Meek tossed the 7th and 8th and also benefited from the strong arm of Kratz cutting down a would be base stealer. Joel Hanrahan struck out the side in the 9th.
Carpenter allowed five singles and three walks over eight innings. Trevor Miller and Ryan Franklin combined to get the final six outs. The Pirates failed to advance a runner past second base and only had multiple runners on base in two innings.
In the decisive 10th, Ludwick hit a pinch hit double and moved to third on a sacrifice from Bengie Molina. Ryan followed with a nubber that Neil Walker knocked down but was unable to field cleanly. Ludwick sprinted home to end it.
The Good
Have to be happy with Erik Kratz throwing out three people.
The Bad
Getting shutout.
The Rest
Carpenter is 11-1 against the Pirates but has no decisions in 2010. Karstens has not allowed an earned run against the Cardinals this year and is 1-1 in his career. This was the fourth time in his Pirates career that he started and allowed no runs.
You have to go back to 1999 to find the last game that the Pirates caught three runners stealing. The catcher was Keith Osik. Other Buc catchers that turned the trick include Mark Parent, Mike LaValliere, Don Slaught, Tony Pena and Ed Ott. On April 21, 1985 Pena caught four of eight Cardinal base stealers.
Jose Tabata has a 10 game hitting streak. He is hitting .371 in his last 17 games.
