• Donovan pops up to first and that's it. Final: Pirates 5, Cardinals 0.
• Oscar Marin is coming out for a mound visit. There are runners on first and second with two outs. Mattson got a little erratic there and missed with his first three pitches to Scott.
• Pozo silences the stadium momentarily with a single into left.
• He then gets a wild swing from Fermín. He really swung out of his shoes there. Yohel Pozo, who hit a pinch-hit double last night, is hitting for Pages.
• Mattson starts it off right with a flyout to right.
• End of eighth inning: Gonzales singles, but the Pirates go down in order after that. Isaac Mattson is now going to get the ninth.
• Kyle Leahy enters for the Cardinals.
• Santana walks one but gets two flyouts and a popout to work his first inning back from a three-game suspension. Nice stuff.
• End of seventh inning: Reynolds strikes out to end the Pirates' four-run rally. Santana has now taken over. Keller's final line: 7 IP, 5 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 7 Ks.
• Even with a five-run lead, it looks like Kelly is going to go to Santana in the eighth. He's starting to warm in the pen.
• RUN: And the Pirates are hot again. Horwitz singles through the right side to score IKF from second. Pirates, 5-0
• RUNS: IKF tacks on two more with a single up the middle and the Pirates have taken this one over. Pirates, 4-0
• Gray's day is done. His line: 6 1/3 IP, 5 H, 2 ER (so far), 1 BB, 6 Ks. He's on the hook for Pham and Hayes. Riley O'Brien takes over.
• RUN: Pham drives in his second run of the day as he squares up a middle-middle sinker and drives it through the left side. Gonzales scores. Pirates, 2-0
• Here. We. Go. Hayes extends his hitting streak to 11 games. He hits a single through the right side and Gonzales goes first-to-third. That sets up a big spot for Pham.
• Cruz did not like that called third strike, but Gray painted a curveball on the bottom edge of the zone.
• A: 15, 979
• Gray nearly hits Gonzales, who jogs down to first for a five-pitch walk, Gray's first of the day.
• Keller is cruising as he strikes out Donovan for his seventh of the day. Really nice outing from him. Pitch location has been spot on over the last few innings. Got Donovan to chase on a slider that broke out of the zone there.
• Keller is going to start the seventh. He's at 82 pitches.
• End of sixth inning: Pirates go down in order again. Gray has thrown 63 pitches and retired the last 14 hitters.
• Scott really showed off his speed there in center. Horwitz hit one near the North Side Notch and Scott traveled a long way to track it down.
• Make that eight straight for Keller.
• Keller matching Gray stride for stride for the most part. He's set down seven straight after that Saggese groundout. He seems to be getting stronger as his outing has carried on.
• End of fifth inning: Pirates go down in order. Gray has set down 11 straight.
• The one thing that's changed with Pham, outside of his vision, is his starting to hit the ball harder. His exit velocity seems to be up and he's finding holes. That groundout just now was 100.1 mph.
• Keller strikes out Gorman and works his first 1-2-3 inning of the day. He's up to 72 pitches through five and has given up five hits.
• End of fourth inning: Pirates go down in order. Cruz hit a deep fly to right that I thought might have had a chance to go out, but Fermin made the catch on the warning track for the second out. He's done a nice job of navigating that Clemente Wall today.
• Scoring change: Gonzales is no longer charged with an error for Nootbaar's single in the third.
• Keller gets a call at the top of the zone. Donovan did not like it. He had some words with home-plate umpire Stu Scheurwater afterward.
• I continue to be impressed by Winn. He's got such a strong arm and makes plays like that consistently. Reynolds flies out to left to end the third.
• With two outs, Keller finds himself in another jam after a Gonzales error, but IKF and Horwitz bail him out. IKF made a great sliding backhanded stop and Horwitz scooped it at first. WOW.
• Keller moves the fastball inside and outside to get Gorman swinging. Catches him on one on the inside half.
• Keller strikes out Winn and becomes PNC Park's all-time strikeout leader with 384, passing Paul Maholm.
• End of second inning: Another Pirate goes down looking as IKF strikes out on a sinker on the outer edge. Gray absolutely painted that pitch right on the edge.
• RUN: Pham stays hot with another RBI single to drive home Cruz. That's his 12th RBI in the last eight games. Pirates, 1-0
— SportsNet Pittsburgh (@SNPittsburgh) July 2, 2025
• Cruz hits a double down the line and hustles out of the box, arriving at second easily. He then nabs third after a Hayes strikeout.
• Keller works himself out of another small jam as Donovan flies out to right field. Cardinals are already 0 for 5 with runners in scoring position and were 0 for 6 last night.
• End of first inning: Gonzales squares up one of Gray's patented sweepers and drives it to the right-field warning track, but Fermín tracks it down before he hits that wall.
• Horwitz strikes out. That's three in his last five at-bats. He's hitting .314 over his last 15 games but .227 over his last seven.
• Horwitz makes another nice defensive stop at first and it gets Keller out of a big jam early. He threw 16 pitches.
• Keller is a little erratic here to start. He walked Burleson on five pitches and then just hit Nootbaar. The bases are loaded.
• Also, here's something to keep an eye on: Keller is now one strikeout away from having the most strikeouts in PNC Park history as he Ks Winn.
• Donovan liked the first pitch he saw, a high fastball on the outer edge of the plate and sent it into right center. Time for Keller to lock in.
• First pitch: Pirates vs. Cardinals, Mitch Keller to Brendan Donovan, PNC Park, 12:37 p.m., 78 degrees, partly cloudy
• For Don Kelly's Pirates:
1. Spencer Horwitz, 1B 2. Andrew McCutchen, DH 3. Bryan Reynolds, RF 4. Nick Gonzales, 2B 5. Oneil Cruz, CF 6. Ke'Bryan Hayes, 3B 7. Tommy Pham, LF 8. Henry Davis, C 9. Isiah Kiner-Falefa, SS
• For Oliver Marmol's visitors:
1. Brendan Donovan, 2B 2. Masyn Winn, SS 3. Alec Burleson, 1B 4. Nolan Gorman, DH 5. Lars Nootbaar, LF 6. Thomas Saggese, 3B 7. José Fermín, RF 8. Pedro Pages, C 9. Victor Scott II, CF
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THE ASYLUM
José Negron
3:54 am - 07.02.2025North ShoreFinal: Pirates 5, Cardinals 0
• Who: Pirates (37-50) vs. Cardinals (47-40)
• What: MLB regular season, Game 88
• When: 12:35 p.m.
• Where: PNC Park
• Weather: 80°, sunny
• Pitchers: RHP Mitch Keller (2-10, 3.90 ERA) vs. RHP Sonny Gray (8-2, 3.36 ERA)
• TV: SportsNet Pittsburgh
• Radio: Pirates Radio Network
• Streaming: SNP360, MLB.TV
• Satellite: SiriusXM 178/861/865
• Boxscore: MLB.com
• Media notes: Pirates | Cardinals
► FOLLOW ALONG
• Donovan pops up to first and that's it. Final: Pirates 5, Cardinals 0.
• Oscar Marin is coming out for a mound visit. There are runners on first and second with two outs. Mattson got a little erratic there and missed with his first three pitches to Scott.
• Pozo silences the stadium momentarily with a single into left.
• He then gets a wild swing from Fermín. He really swung out of his shoes there. Yohel Pozo, who hit a pinch-hit double last night, is hitting for Pages.
• Mattson starts it off right with a flyout to right.
• End of eighth inning: Gonzales singles, but the Pirates go down in order after that. Isaac Mattson is now going to get the ninth.
• Kyle Leahy enters for the Cardinals.
• Santana walks one but gets two flyouts and a popout to work his first inning back from a three-game suspension. Nice stuff.
• End of seventh inning: Reynolds strikes out to end the Pirates' four-run rally. Santana has now taken over. Keller's final line: 7 IP, 5 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 7 Ks.
• Even with a five-run lead, it looks like Kelly is going to go to Santana in the eighth. He's starting to warm in the pen.
• RUN: And the Pirates are hot again. Horwitz singles through the right side to score IKF from second. Pirates, 5-0
• RUNS: IKF tacks on two more with a single up the middle and the Pirates have taken this one over. Pirates, 4-0
• Gray's day is done. His line: 6 1/3 IP, 5 H, 2 ER (so far), 1 BB, 6 Ks. He's on the hook for Pham and Hayes. Riley O'Brien takes over.
• RUN: Pham drives in his second run of the day as he squares up a middle-middle sinker and drives it through the left side. Gonzales scores. Pirates, 2-0
• Here. We. Go. Hayes extends his hitting streak to 11 games. He hits a single through the right side and Gonzales goes first-to-third. That sets up a big spot for Pham.
• Cruz did not like that called third strike, but Gray painted a curveball on the bottom edge of the zone.
• A: 15, 979
• Gray nearly hits Gonzales, who jogs down to first for a five-pitch walk, Gray's first of the day.
• Keller is cruising as he strikes out Donovan for his seventh of the day. Really nice outing from him. Pitch location has been spot on over the last few innings. Got Donovan to chase on a slider that broke out of the zone there.
• Keller is going to start the seventh. He's at 82 pitches.
• End of sixth inning: Pirates go down in order again. Gray has thrown 63 pitches and retired the last 14 hitters.
• Scott really showed off his speed there in center. Horwitz hit one near the North Side Notch and Scott traveled a long way to track it down.
• Make that eight straight for Keller.
• Keller matching Gray stride for stride for the most part. He's set down seven straight after that Saggese groundout. He seems to be getting stronger as his outing has carried on.
• End of fifth inning: Pirates go down in order. Gray has set down 11 straight.
• The one thing that's changed with Pham, outside of his vision, is his starting to hit the ball harder. His exit velocity seems to be up and he's finding holes. That groundout just now was 100.1 mph.
• Keller strikes out Gorman and works his first 1-2-3 inning of the day. He's up to 72 pitches through five and has given up five hits.
• End of fourth inning: Pirates go down in order. Cruz hit a deep fly to right that I thought might have had a chance to go out, but Fermin made the catch on the warning track for the second out. He's done a nice job of navigating that Clemente Wall today.
• Scoring change: Gonzales is no longer charged with an error for Nootbaar's single in the third.
• Keller gets a call at the top of the zone. Donovan did not like it. He had some words with home-plate umpire Stu Scheurwater afterward.
• I continue to be impressed by Winn. He's got such a strong arm and makes plays like that consistently. Reynolds flies out to left to end the third.
• With two outs, Keller finds himself in another jam after a Gonzales error, but IKF and Horwitz bail him out. IKF made a great sliding backhanded stop and Horwitz scooped it at first. WOW.
• Keller moves the fastball inside and outside to get Gorman swinging. Catches him on one on the inside half.
• Keller strikes out Winn and becomes PNC Park's all-time strikeout leader with 384, passing Paul Maholm.
• End of second inning: Another Pirate goes down looking as IKF strikes out on a sinker on the outer edge. Gray absolutely painted that pitch right on the edge.
• RUN: Pham stays hot with another RBI single to drive home Cruz. That's his 12th RBI in the last eight games. Pirates, 1-0
• Cruz hits a double down the line and hustles out of the box, arriving at second easily. He then nabs third after a Hayes strikeout.
• Keller works himself out of another small jam as Donovan flies out to right field. Cardinals are already 0 for 5 with runners in scoring position and were 0 for 6 last night.
• End of first inning: Gonzales squares up one of Gray's patented sweepers and drives it to the right-field warning track, but Fermín tracks it down before he hits that wall.
• Horwitz strikes out. That's three in his last five at-bats. He's hitting .314 over his last 15 games but .227 over his last seven.
• Horwitz makes another nice defensive stop at first and it gets Keller out of a big jam early. He threw 16 pitches.
• Keller is a little erratic here to start. He walked Burleson on five pitches and then just hit Nootbaar. The bases are loaded.
• Also, here's something to keep an eye on: Keller is now one strikeout away from having the most strikeouts in PNC Park history as he Ks Winn.
• Donovan liked the first pitch he saw, a high fastball on the outer edge of the plate and sent it into right center. Time for Keller to lock in.
• First pitch: Pirates vs. Cardinals, Mitch Keller to Brendan Donovan, PNC Park, 12:37 p.m., 78 degrees, partly cloudy
• For Don Kelly's Pirates:
1. Spencer Horwitz, 1B
2. Andrew McCutchen, DH
3. Bryan Reynolds, RF
4. Nick Gonzales, 2B
5. Oneil Cruz, CF
6. Ke'Bryan Hayes, 3B
7. Tommy Pham, LF
8. Henry Davis, C
9. Isiah Kiner-Falefa, SS
• For Oliver Marmol's visitors:
1. Brendan Donovan, 2B
2. Masyn Winn, SS
3. Alec Burleson, 1B
4. Nolan Gorman, DH
5. Lars Nootbaar, LF
6. Thomas Saggese, 3B
7. José Fermín, RF
8. Pedro Pages, C
9. Victor Scott II, CF
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