Brault roughed up in Virtual Pirates' loss to Cards


I will be serving as general manager/manager of the Pirates in a 2020 season simulation along with 29 others using Out Of The Park Baseball. Feel free to check here for daily updates. I realize baseball is a lot less important than what is going on in the world today but perhaps it can provide a diversion for a few moments.


PITTSBURGH – Well, at least the Virtual Pirates weren’t shut out.

Dakota Hudson (4-2) pitched 7 1/3 scoreless innings and Matt Carpenter had a home run among his three hits to lead the Virtual St. Louis Cardinals to a 7-1 victory over the Virtual Buccos on Wednesday at Virtual PNC Park.

The Pirates dropped two of three games in the series and saw their record fall to 20-22.

Guillermo Heredia kept the Pirates from being blanked when he hit a pinch-hit RBI double with one out in the ninth inning.

Steven Brault (1-1) took the loss, allowing five runs and eight hits in six innings. He struck out five and walked one during an 86-pitch outing.

Adam Frazier and Jacob Stallings had two hits apiece for the Pirates.

Tommy Edman’s RBI single in the second inning opened the scoring. The Cardinals made it 5-0 with a four-run sixth inning that included Paul Goldschmidt’s two-run home run and a run-scoring double by Lane Thomas.

Carpenter added a two-run homer in the eighth off Chris Stratton.

In a bit of a post-game tiff, bench coach Craig Wilson pointed a finger – not the middle one -- at the manager. Wilson posited the theory that the skipper had somehow angered the players in the hours leading up to the game.

The weather was 59 and rainy at game time with an 8-mph wind blowing out to center field. Time of game was three hours, 19 minutes and attendance was 32,245.

After having Thursday off, the Virtual Corsairs and Virtual New York Mets open a four-game series Friday night at Virtual Citi Field. Joe Musgrove (4-2, 4.22) will start against left-hander Steven Matz (4-3, 4.39).

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