The Pittsburgh Pirates' latest marathon game likely left the Pirates exhausted and disheartened, as a 14-inning loss Monday night was not ideal for the squads' chances of winning a Wild Card berth. But they'll need to shake off the loss Tuesday night against the Cincinnati Reds as they remain 2.5 games behind the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League standings.
Pittsburgh's bats are mired in a woeful slump right now: the team has lost four straight and haven't scored more than three runs in any of the games. Last night's 4-3 loss in 14 innings was the most brutal of the set: after putting up three runs in the fourth inning, including one on an RBI by pitcher Wandy Rodriguez, the Bucs wouldn't score in the game's final 10 frames, squandering a decent outing by Rodriguez and seven innings of scoreless relief work by the bullpen before Rick VandenHurk finally gave up a run after the 14th inning stretch.
The Pirates will hope to rouse their bats against Mike Leake, who was roughed up for six runs in only 2.1 innings against Philadelphia in his last performance, and is 0-1 in three starts against Pittsburgh this year. Toeing the rubber for the Pirates is Kevin Correia, who has only given up two runs in his last three outings spanning 10.1 innings.
The Cardinals also lost Monday night against San Diego, but the Pirates fell back a half-game of the Los Angeles Dodgers, who were out of action and are now just one game back of the second Wild Card spot.
The game will be available on ROOT Sports Pittsburgh.
Here's a look at how the Wild Card standings sit heading into Tuesday night's action:
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