Pittsburgh Pirates

Kovacevic: Bad pitch plus bad pitch call equals one lousy loss

ST LOUIS, MO - JULY 17: Kolten Wong #16 of the St. Louis Cardinals attempts to turn a double play as Adam Frazier #26 of the Pittsburgh Pirates slides during the ninth inning at Busch Stadium on July 17, 2019 (Photo by Jeff Curry/Getty Images)

There's an ever-present temptation in baseball that, when one thing works, try it again. Even in this age of advanced analytics, where the game's micromanaged as never before, it can still come down to a singular human instinct.

We did this. It worked.

The Pirates capped a lousy 1-5 trip out of the All-Star break with a lousier-than-all-of-it 6-5 loss to the Cardinals on this Wednesday afternoon at blistering Busch Stadium. They're 45-50, they're 6 1/2 out in the Central, they're treading toward toast status for 2019, and I'll get to all of that in a bit.

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