After seven starts for Altoona and Indianapolis against Double-A and Triple-A hitters, Max Kranick recorded two victories, two defeats and an unremarkable ERA of 4.37.
KE’BRYAN HAYES.
THAT’S IT. THAT’S THE TWEET. pic.twitter.com/Bh3Mrir1i4
— Pirates (@Pirates) June 27, 2021
Who knew taming the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium would be so much easier? Or, at least, appear so.
The only force strong enough to stop Kranick in his major league debut Sunday was the weather. Rain in St. Louis interrupted the game after five innings — perfect innings by Kranick, who retired all 15 batters he faced on 50 pitches while striking out three.
The 7-2 victory was the Pirates’ third in the four-game series in St. Louis and their sixth in the past nine games.
Kranick, 23, became the fourth Pirates pitcher since 2010 to be perfect through five innings, joining A.J. Burnett, Nick Kingham and Jeff Locke. He also is the first Pirates starter since Paul Maholm in 2005 to win his big-league debut on the road.
He received a significant lift in the second inning from third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes, who fielded Yadier Molina’s ground ball at the edge of the infield dirt and made the long throw to first base across his body while his momentum carried him far into foul territory.
Meanwhile, the Pirates (29-47) scored seven runs, but Kranick did not return to the mound when the game resumed. Duane Underwood Jr. replaced Kranick in the bottom of the sixth after a 64-minute delay.
After a three-up, three-down sixth, Dylan Carlson broke up the no-hitter and perfect game with a double to left field leading off the seventh for the Cardinals (37-41). Nolan Arenado ended the shutout with a sacrifice fly, and the Cardinals added another run in the eighth.
Kranick, a Scranton native, batted before he threw his first pitch, thanks to the Pirates batting all the way through the order in the first inning against Cardinals starter Johan Oviedo.
For the first time in almost two years, the first five Pirates batters reached base. Adam Frazier walked, followed by a single from Hayes and Bryan Reynolds’ RBI single. Reynolds extended his hitting streak to 12 games — the longest currently in the National League. Then, Oviedo walked Colin Moran and Jacob Stallings to load the bases.
Earlier, Hayes scored on catcher Yadier Molina’s passed ball, and later in the inning, Ben Gamel picked up an RBI on Oviedo’s third walk of the inning. Finally, Kranick grounded out to shortstop to end the inning.
The Pirates, who collected 12 hits, added two runs each in the fourth and fifth. In the fourth, Gamel, Frazier, Hayes and Reynolds singled to increase the lead to 5-0 before Gregory Polanco and Gamel homered an inning later.
Frazier recorded his ninth three-hit game of the season, giving him a .331 batting average and 98 hits less than halfway through the season. After his two RBIs, Reynolds has 13 in the past 10 games and 44 for the season.
Jerry DiPaola is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Jerry by email at [email protected] or via Twitter .
