Derek Shelton finally made his long-awaited debut as manager for the Pittsburgh Pirates, only to have the old hitting coach find his team in a pitcher’s duel.
In a right-handed battle, Jack Flaherty bested Joe Musgrove to lead the St. Louis Cardinals to a 5-4 win in the season opener over the Pirates on Friday night at an empty Busch stadium, as the coronavirus pandemic prevented fans from attending the opening. The day of one season was delayed four months and shortened to 60 games.
Shelton said he stepped back to soak in the moment during pregame introductions and in the first inning.
“It is a unique fraternity. We are only 30 in the world, ”said Shelton. “As someone pointed out earlier, it’s a small list of guys who have managed in the big leagues. I assimilated it. I am very humble and honored to have this position. Yes, I did not let the moment pass. I made sure to assimilate it. Because if not, my father would have really been (marked) with me. ”
Backed by a pair of solo home runs by Tyler O’Neill and Dexter Fowler, Flaherty kept the Pirates off the scoreboard for the first six frames by giving two runs in the seventh. Flaherty allowed six punches, striking out six without taking a walk. The Cardinals added a two-run homer by Paul DeJong in the eighth.
Musgrove successfully mixed his four-seam fastball with the curve, shift and slider, allowing three runs on five hits (including a pair of solo home runs), with seven strikeouts and three walks on 5two/ /3 entry.
“If I can make an improvement on the tee, it would be getting the balls broken for early shots and the swings for early attacks,” said Musgrove, who threw 99 pitches, 61 for punches. “My execution, I thought it was quite good. I mean, the two tones that I left just above the heart of the plate were the two that hurt. But other than that, I felt like I executed quite well, especially when we needed a big launch. “
O’Neill curved inside from Musgrove into the visiting bullpen in left field for a 394-foot home run to give the Cardinals a 1-0 lead in the third. O’Neill hit a home run five times last season, with three against the Pirates.
Flaherty was perfect for three innings before Kevin Newman singled in the middle to lead the fourth, the Pirates ‘first hit of the season, but was forced out in the second by fielder Bryan Reynolds’ choice. Adam Frazier singled to left to put Reynolds in scoring position, but Flaherty got Josh Bell to fly to the right and struck out Colin Moran to get out of the jam.
Fowler hit Musgrove’s 70th homer for an initial home run in the fifth to right field to give the Cardinals a 2-0 lead. Musgrove saved another run by making a spectacular play with Kolten Wong’s 3-pointer between center and right: when the shot passed Moran at third base, Musgrove made a stop and blind sliding shot of his knees to Jacob Stallings to pin down Wong at the plate to finish the inning.
Musgrove attributed it to backing the game and being in the right spot as the ball was placed behind Wong and blinded Musgrove.
“I didn’t necessarily see where the plate was, but I knew the angle it needed to be at,” said Musgrove. “I really didn’t think I had much time to get rid of him. When I threw the ball, I saw that I had more time than I thought and I wished I had set foot a little more. “
Shelton added: “That was a great move. Really athletic. I was in the right place. We got a caravan, Wong made an aggressive move. Joe made a good play, and Jacob made a very good play at the plate. That’s not an easy play for a catcher. “
In the sixth, however, Musgrove began to wear down. He gave a single-out single to Paul Goldschmidt, who advanced to second on a wild pitch. After DeJong walked, Chris Carpenter hit a fielder’s choice to put runners first and third. Shelton pulled Musgrove with two outs for Clay Holmes, but catcher Yadier Molina singled to the left to give the Cardinals a 3-0 lead.
The Pirates joined in the seventh, loading the bases in singles in the box for Josh Bell and José Osuna. Flaherty struck out Guillermo Heredia, but Stallings singled on the right field line to score Bell and Moran to reduce it to 3-2. With runners in first and third place, Flaherty got Dyson to get going to finish the inning.
DeJong’s two-run homer to the left field bullpen against Richard Rodriguez gave the Cardinals a 5-2 cushion in the eighth. The Cardinals brought in new closer Kwang-hyun Kim, a 32-year-old left-hander from KBO, for the ninth, only to allow a double by Bell and Moran, followed by a single by Osuna in the middle to score both and cut it to 5- Four. But Stallings made a double play for the final exit.
“We were in the game all night,” Dyson said. “We were one lap away from winning that ball game, or tying the ball game. I felt that for the first game, we showed great signs. We can always look back and improve that, what we did was wrong and how we could have done it and things like that. We’re definitely going to be in tune with that and we’ll make sure we clean it up. ”
The Pirates and Cardinals play the second game of their three-game opening series at 2:15 p.m. Saturday, with Pirates right-hander Trevor Williams facing Cardinals right-hander Adam Wainwright, who is on his fifteenth season.
Kevin Gorman is a writer for the Tribune-Review. You can contact Kevin by email at [email protected] or by Twitter.
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