ST. LOUIS CARDINALS (66-62) vs. PITTSBURGH PIRATES (47-83) AUGUST 29, 2021 at PNC Park, Pittsburgh, PA -- GAME #131/HOME #66 LHP KWANG HYUN KIM (6-6, 3.27 ERA) vs. RHP WIL CROWE (3-7, 5.46 ERA) THE PIRATES... have dropped two games in a row after winning three-of-four...Have gone 5-4 in their last nine games after losing five straight and 13-of-14...Collected a season-high 19 hits and 14 runs against the Brewers on 8/14 (game 1)...Have won a season-high three straight games on four occasions. BUCS WHEN... SEE YOU ON OPENING DAY: Today is the final game between the Pirates and Cardinals this season...The two teams are Last five games ................2-3 scheduled to open the 2022 campaign here at PNC Park on Thursday, March 31...It will mark the first time since 2016 that the Pirates will be starting the regular season at home (also against the Cardinals). Last ten games .................5-5 ABOUT TODAY'S STARTER: Wil Crowe gets the start this afternoon in the season finale between the Pirates and Cardinals... Leading after 6 ................31-4 Crowe enters today's action ranked fourth among all National League rookies in strikeouts (84), trailing Miami's Trevor Rogers Tied after 6 ....................5-9 (129), Chicago's Adbert Alzolay (107) and Atlanta's Ian Anderson (98)...Crowe is seeking his first victory since he tossed 6.0 scoreless innings and gave up one hit in a 7-0 victory vs. Philadelphia on 7/30. Trailing after 6 ...............11-70 HITTIN' THE ROAD: Tomorrow afternoon the Pirates will depart for a six-game road trip to Chicago...The trip will begin with a Leading after 7 ................35-2 two-game series against the White Sox Tuesday night in Pittsburgh's first interleague game since June 23, which also came against Chicago...The action shifts to the north side for the start of a four-game series against the Cubs Thursday night - the Tied after 7 ....................8-2 first meeting between the two teams since May 27 at PNC Park...This will mark the first time the Pirates play both the Sox Trailing after 7 ................4-79 and Cubs in back-to-back series on the same road trip since May 22-27, 2009. DOWN ON THE FARM: The Bradenton Marauders improved to 15-7 this month after beating Fort Myers 8-6 yesterday...The Leading after 8 ................33-2 15 wins in August are tied for the third-most among all teams at the Low-A level...Bradenton enters today's action with the Tied after 8 ....................6-1 second-best record (61-38) among all Low-A Southeast League teams, trailing only the Tampa Tarpons (67-32). Trailing after 8 ................3-76 CATCH THIS: Jacob Stallings tied his career high (seventh time) with three hits Friday night; his third three-hit game of the season...Stallings has hit safely in five of his last six games (9-for-21, .429) and has reached base safely in 17 of his last 19 Scoring first .................29-21 starts dating back to 7/30...Stallings enters today's action ranked fifth among N.L. backstops with 741.0 innings caught and Opp. score first ...............18-62 his 47 RBI rank fourth among N.L. catchers behind Will Smith (57), J.T. Realmuto (54) and Yadier Molina (51). INNINGS EATER: Duane Underwood, Jr. has pitched more than 1.0 inning in 28 of his 41 appearances and leads all Major Scoring 4+ .................40-14 League relievers with 70.2 innings pitched this season...He has posted a 0.68 ERA in his last seven games (13.1ip/2r/1er) Scoring less than 4. 7-69 and a 1.04 ERA (17.1ip/2er) in his last nine appearances. EXTRA EFFORT: In his 12 games with the Pirates, Yoshi Tsutsugo has collected eight hits - seven of which have gone for Outhitting Opp.. 34-14 extra bases...He has produced four home runs, two doubles and one triple while going 8-for-24 with a 1.385 OPS at the plate. Being out-hit .................7-61 SOME KUHL STATS AT PNC: In his eight appearances (six starts) at PNC Park this season, Chad Kuhl has produced a 2.65 Hits are equal ..................6-6 ERA (34.0ip/10er) and a .205 batting average against (24-for-117)...Dating back to the start of 2020, he has posted a 2.47 ERA (65.2ip/18er) in 15 games (12 starts) in Pittsburgh; a 0.00 ERA (5.2ip) in his three relief appearances. Comeback wins .................22 COMING THROUGH IN A PINCH: Yoshi Tsutsugo connected for his third pinch-hit home run in seven games Thursday night; Wins in final AB .................12 his three PH-homers are the most by a Pirates player since Jose Osuna hit five in 2019 and he is tied for the second-most Walkoff Wins ....................6 in the Majors this season (Pablo Sandoval has hit four)...The Pirates have hit eight pinch-hit home runs this season; tied for the third-most in the Majors (the Giants lead all teams with 14)...Five different Pirates have hit a pinch-hit homer this season Losses in final AB. 4 (Yoshi Tsutsugo, Rodolfo Castro, Phillip Evans, Michael Perez and Wilmer Difo). Extra Inning Games .............5-1 CAPTAIN REDBEARD: Colin Moran went 4-for-5 with a home run Thursday night and has gone 13-for-29 (.448) with three home runs and nine RBI in eight games against the Cardinals at PNC Park this season...He is hitting .302 (19-for-63) in 20 Playing errorless ..............35-45 games since being reinstated from the injured list (left wrist bone fracture) on 8/6. Homered ....................34-34 THE KID FROM MARS: Pittsburgh native David Bednar earned his first save at PNC Park Monday night after recording the first save of his big league career last Saturday night in St. Louis...Beginning with his outing on 6/18, Bednar has posted a 2+ homers ..................16-8 0.98 ERA (27.2ip/3er); the third-lowest in that time among Major League relievers with at least 25.0 innings of work behind Tampa Bay's Collin McHugh (0.33) and San Francisco's Jose Alvarez (0.96). Series (W-L-T) .............14-22-5 Series Sweeps ...................0 PLAYING THE FIELD: Dating back to 5/9, the Pirates have committed a Major League-low tying 36 errors in 98 games (the Astros also have 36 in that time)...Pittsburgh's .98669 fielding percentage this season is the fifth-best in all of MLB and the Swept in a Series ................14 third-best among all National League teams behind Atlanta (.988) and San Francisco (.98677). Interleague ....................8-7 PIRATES ROSTER: Pitchers (14) - Anthony Banda, David Bednar, Steven Brault, Wil Crowe, Sam Howard, Kyle Keller, Mitch Keller, Chad Kuhl, Nick Mears, Luis Oviedo, Chasen Shreve, Chris Stratton, Duane Underwood, Jr., Bryse Wilson....Catchers Before the break ..............34-56 (2) - Michael Perez, Jacob Stallings...Infielders (6) - Michael Chavis, Wilmer Difo, Ke'Bryan Hayes, Colin Moran, Kevin After the break ...............13-27 Newman, Cole Tucker...Outfielders (4) - Anthony Alford, Ben Gamel, Bryan Reynolds, Yoshi Tsutsugo. Starter goes 6.0ip+. 14-11 ON THIS DATE IN PIRATES HISTORY Starter goes less than 6.0ip. 33-71 August 29, 1987: Andy Van Slyke hit his first and only Major League grand slam in an 8-2 victory over Nolan Ryan and the Astros while helping Black Road Jerseys .............7-20 the Bucs extend their winning streak to five games. Mike LaValliere also hit his first home run of the season while Mike Bielecki tossed the Grey Road Jerseys .............13-25 first complete game of his career. UP-COMING GAMES AND PROBABLE PITCHERS Monday Off Day/Travel Day To Chicago Tuesday at Chicago (AL) 7:10 CDT RHP Bryse Wilson (2-5, 4.35 ERA) vs. RHP Lucas Giolito (9-9, 3.68 ERA) AT&T SportsNet Wednesday at Chicago (AL) 7:10 CDT RHP Mitch Keller (4-10, 6.75 ERA) vs. LHP Carlos Rodón (10-5, 2.43 ERA) AT&T SportsNet 29 - RHP WIL CROWE YEAR W-L ERA G GS CG SHO IP H R ER BB SO 2020 0-2 11.88 3 3 0 0 8.1 14 13 11 8 8 2021 3-7 5.46 20 19 0 0 89.0 98 58 54 43 84 M.L. CAREER 3-9 6.01 23 22 0 0 97.1 112 71 65 51 92 vs. ST. LOUIS: 1-2 with a 4.91 ERA (14.2ip/8er) in three career starts (all in 2021)...Gave up a three-run homer to Harrison Bader in the second inning and lost a 3-0 decision to Carlos Martinez on 5/2 at PNC Park (5.0ip/3er)...Also won his first Major League game on 6/25 at Busch Stadium (5.0ip/4er) and suffered a 4-0 loss to Adam Wainwright on 8/11 at PNC Park (4.2ip/1er). DATE/OPP W/L IP H R ER BB SO PITCHES ERA SCORE DATE/OPP W/L IP H R ER BB SO PITCHES ERA SCORE 4/3 at Chicago-NL (relief) ND 0.2 1 1 1 2 2 28 13.50 1-5 L 7/17 vs. New York-NL ND 5.1 6 4 4 3 3 88 6.12 9-7 W 4/25 at Minnesota ND 4.0 4 1 1 2 3 81 3.86 6-2 W 7/24 at San Francisco W 5.1 4 2 2 1 9 90 5.89 10-2 W APRIL (0-0, 3.86 ERA) 4.2 5 2 2 4 5 109 7/30 vs.