Asked to protect a one-run lead in the ninth, Drew VerHagen gave up a go-ahead two-run homer Saturday against the Pirates.
We’re not saying that the Cardinals were trying to lose, but if they were... To be fair, the Cards weren’t going to use Ryan Helsley for a second straight day after he just came off the IL on Friday, and JoJo Romero was also unavailable after throwing 35 pitches on Friday. They could have asked for more than an inning out of Giovanny Gallegos after he had gone a week without pitching, but they chose not to. It would have been VerHagen’s first career save had he converted it. Alas, he hit the second batter he faced and then gave up his eighth homer in 51 1/3 innings this season.