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Pirates Morning Report: Out Bullpening The Padres

Final Score: Pirates 3 Padres 2 in 12 innings.

Why The Pirates Won: The Pirates’ bullpen out-pitched the best bullpen in baseball. Granted, they gave up the tying run in regulation but held the Padres in check for three extra innings. They were aided by the Padres showing the world how not to bunt. They popped into a bunt double play in the 10th and popped out in the 11th trying to bunt the ghost runner over to third. Neither team could do much offensively. The Pirates went 1 for 15 with runners in scoring position, leaving 13 men on base. The Padres were just as bad, going 1 for 13 and leaving 10 men on base. Braxton Ashcraft pitched a solid 6 innings. He gave up one run on a goofy balk, where the pitcher has to declare he is going to wind up with a runner on third base. He gave up 4 hits, walked 1, and struck out 2; not as spectacular as his last two outings, but still excellent. The Pirates have the opportunity to sweep the Padres, which they have to do if they are going to keep their slim hopes alive to make the playoffs. Right now, they have a 0.6% chance of making the playoffs.

Key Moments Of The Game: The balk in the 6th inning gave the Padres a run they did not deserve. The Pirates almost got to Mason Miller; they put runners on 1st and 3rd with two outs in the top of the 9th. It took a great play by Jake Cronenworth to end the inning and keep the Pirates from scoring. They made Miller throw 30 pitches, which may keep him out of tonight’s game. Nick Gonzales opened the 12th with a single to score the deciding run of the game. There were two ridiculous pop-up bunts by the Padres in the 10th and 11th innings. Jake Cronenworth and Dustin Harris will be arriving early to the ballpark today for bunting practice. Kirby Yates got out of a bases loaded one out jam in the bottom of the 11th by striking out Jackson Merrill and getting Xander Bogaerts to line out to center field. I would be remiss if I did not mention my old nemesis Yohan Ramirez, who came into the bottom of the 12th and struck out the side. Ramirez must have set some kind of personal record by throwing 12 strikes out of 17 pitches. Of course, it helped that the Padres swung at 5 pitches out of the strike zone. Thanks for everything last night, Padres.

Next Game: Tonight, Padres in San Diego. The Paul Skenes saga continues in San Diego tonight as fans eagerly anticipate his performance on the mound. Will he finally pitch a quality game that meets the high expectations placed upon him? Will he find the strike zone consistently, which has been a challenge for him in previous outings. Meanwhile, the Pirates might just be catching the Padres at the right time. Despite displaying an impressive run since the All-Star break, one can’t help but speculate if they are starting to come back down to earth. With the playoff race heating up, every game counts, and the stakes feel higher than ever. We will find out tonight; stay tuned.

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Pirates Morning Report: Season Swept Away

Final Score: Pirates 0 Dodgers 4

Why the Pirates Lost: This game had the feeling of a must-win. The Pirates started the worst lineup they could think of, with Billy Cook and Nick Yorke in the lineup and Oneil Cruz and Jake Magnum not in the lineup. Even though Blake Snell is pitching, Magnum is a switch hitter, and Cruz is having his best year against left-hand pitching. Over the last 17 innings of this series, the offense completely disintegrated. After leading off with two hits in the second inning in Game 2 of the series, the Pirate batters went into a deep sleep. They managed just 3 hits and struck out 25 times in those 17 innings. One of those hits yesterday was a big chop toward first base that had so much English on it that the ball bounced away from Freddie Freeman. During the 6 innings that Snell pitched, the Pirates swung at 23 balls out of the strike zone. Another good scouting report by the Pirates’ staff. Snell’s final out was striking out Nick Yorke on a pitch that was at the bill of his cap. Yorke and Cook, who both should not even be on this team, had a great day. They went 0 for 6, striking out one time each and did not get a ball out of the infield or over 80 MPH. The Pirates are so clueless that, in the bottom of the 5th, already trailing 3-0, they played the infield back and conceded the Dodgers the run to fall behind 4-0. Even the opener could not help Carmen Mlodzinski this time. He went 3 innings, giving up 3 runs on 5 hits. At least he did not walk anybody. The Pirates are now 8.5 games out of the wild card, and thanks to the pathetic Reds, are still a half game from last place. They now have a 0.3% chance of making the playoffs. At one point this season it was 35%. What a collapse.

Key Moment of the Game: When Don (I Hope Ben Cherington Does Not Get ired) Kelly handed the lineup card to the umpire. Not only was Nick Yorke in the starting lineup, but he was in left field and batting sixth. Billy Cook started in center field. Yorke’s OPS+ is 56, and Cook’s is 19. Against a two-time Cy Young Award winner, you put in the lineup two players that are 44% worse and 81% worse than the league average in hitting. I really cannot write anymore about this. I am sure the Pirates will have this hot September when the games are meaningless.

Next Game: Tonight, the Padres in San Diego. The Pirates head to San Diego where they trail the Padres by 8.5 games in the wild card. If is very possible that by Thursday they will be 11.5 games out. They are coming from laid back L. A. where the fans are ho hum and going to raucous San Diego where they are sold out every night and the Padres are the only game in town. The Pirates are going to face the best bullpen in all of baseball. Braxton Ashcraft is pitching for the Pirates with Robbie Ray, the pitcher the Pirates should have acquired at the deadline, going for the Padres. Another left hand starter so we may see Yorke and Cook in the lineup again tonight since they did so well yesterday. After all we have to sweep the Padres. What a manager and staff.

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Pirates Morning Report: Losing Another Close One

Final Score: Pirates 3 Dodgers 4

Why The Pirates Lost: After getting off to a robust start against Tarik Skubal, where 5 of the first 8 batters got hits, the Pirates had only one more hit the rest of the game. Skubal either found something or the Pirates just reverted back to being their old selves. Either way it resulted in the Pirates losing their second close game to the Dodgers. Over the last 24 outs of the game the Pirates struck out 15 times. They only put 10 balls in play and 8 of those were under 80 MPH. One of the 8 was a sacrifice bunt. They hit two hard balls over 100 MPH which resulted in an out and a one out double. Jared Jones had the typical Pirate start. Four innings, throwing 87 pitches, walking 5 and working from behind most of the 4 innings. He was fortunate that he gave up just 2 runs. For whatever reason, Pirate starting pitchers just refuse to pound the strike zone. In the bottom of the 5th Yohan Ramirez came on and gave up the lead after facing just 4 batters. Of course he opened the inning by hitting Mookie Betts. It was 4-3 after 5 innings and the Pirates could not tie the game up. The Pirates are 7.5 games out of the wild card and just a half game out of last place.

Key Moments Of The Game: The Pirates had lit up Tarik Skubal for 3 runs on 3 hits in the first inning highlighted by an Oneil Cruz triple, that he hit on the first pitch of the at bat, driving in the first two runs. Rafael Flores knocked in Cruz on a ground out. In the bottom of the first Jones retired the side in order. The Pirates opened the second inning by getting two singles. Henry Davis sacrificed the runners to second and third. Then the strikeouts began, with Nick Gonazles and Esmerlyn Valdez going down on strikes. In the top of the 8th the Pirates got a one out double from Valdez. During the Bryan Reynolds at bat pinch runner Billy (Why I’ll Never Know) Cook was wild pitched to third. Of course, Reynolds struck out. Dave Roberts brought in a lefty to face Oneil Cruz. Cruz took one good swing at a fast ball right down the middle and missed. Then he stood there taking a call third strike that was well inside the inner third of the plate. The Pirate went down quietly in the 9th.

Next Game: This afternoon, Dodgers in Los Angeles. It looks like the Pirates are going with the either an opener or a full fledged bullpen game today. Blake Snell will be starting for the Dodgers who is still trying to find his way after a long stint on the IL. The Pirates are doing just enough to lose. If they lose today, I feel you can officially put a cap on the season. They are heading to San Diego after this game and the Padres are 22-12 since the All Star break and 39 and 26 at home. No matter what happen today they have to sweep the Padres. Stay tuned.

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Pirates Morning Report: Synopsis Of The Whole Season

Final Score: Pirates 4 Dodgers 5 in 10 innings

Why the Pirates lost: They were terrible in situational hitting, struck out 14 times, and Pirate pitchers gave up 7 walks. Anything sound familiar? Three times the Pirates had a runner on 2nd with no outs and failed to move him over. Cruz hit a home run in the top of the 8th to help offset one of those innings. In the top of the 10th, the Pirates had 1st and 3rd with no outs and failed to score. This was a synopsis of their entire season, resulting in a crushing loss. It took Bubba Chandler 88 pitches to get through 4 innings. He gave up 4 runs on 4 hits, walking 2, hitting a batter, and striking out 6. Another familiar outing from Chandler. The bullpen held the Dodgers scoreless over the last 5 innings of regulation, giving up only one hit. Lakes Bachar did walk the bases loaded in the 7th but was able to get out of it. Two of those walks were with 2 outs. The Reds keep the Pirates out of last place thanks to their lousy play, but the Pirates fall 6.5 games back in the wild card race.

Key Moments Of The Game: The Max Muncy home run in the bottom of the 1st helped the Dodgers get off to a great start and kill any momentum the Pirates had from scoring in the first inning. The Pirates tied the game 2-2 in the top of the third. Bubba Chandler gave that right back in the bottom of the 3rd by giving up 2 runs on 3 hits, a walk and hit by pitch. The pitch wound up breaking Andy Pages’s hand. I do not think it will affect the Dodgers much. Oneil Cruz hit the big home run in the top of the 8th to tie the game 4-4. The lack of situational hitting cost the Pirates the game. The winning hit was on an 0-2 pitch that was out of the strike zone. My only criticism would be he threw him two sweepers in a row that were very close to the same spot. Tommy Edman went down a got the second one to single down the line to win the game. Regardless, this was a loss that summarized the entire season.

Next Game: Tonight, Dodgers in Los Angeles. Talk about going from the frying pan to the fire, the Pirates face Tarik Skubal tonight. Jared Jones will have the honor of going up against one of the best left hand pitchers in the game. I am sure the Pirates will put out their ridiculous right hand batting lineup that may even feature Billy Cook. I felt the Pirates did better than expected against Yoshinobu Yamamoto making him throw 107 pitches to get through 6 and 1/3 innings. Skubal has not exactly lit it up for the Dodgers since the big trade. He has given up 6 runs in 17 innings of work. He gave up only one run against the Brewers, but they managed to get 7 hits in 6 innings. The Pirates are on the brink off falling completely out of contention for a playoff spot. Will their weaknesses show up again tonight? Stay tuned.

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Pirates Morning Report: What The Pirates Must Do By The Numbers

After the Pirates great walk off win on Wednesday there was much hyperbole in the local media. There were headlines that read that this walk off win may have saved the Pirate season. It reminded me some of the exaggerated excitement when the Pirates swept the Brewers in Pittsburgh right before the All Star break. It was like a 3 game sweep of the Brewers could make up for 94 games of mediocre play and many games just given away by bad baseball and horrendous bullpen work. The Pirates have put themselves in a position where they will not only have to play at a winning pace, they have not come close to playing all year, but it will require two of three teams to play mediocre to bad baseball. The Pirates have 33 games to play. The three teams in question the Padres, Diamondbacks, and Phillies have 34 games to play. Here are how the numbers have to play out for the Pirates just to get into a 4 way tie for the wild card spot. I do not have any idea how the tie breakers would work out so the Pirates may have to do even better than that.

Once this road trip is over the Pirates play 15 of their last 24 games at home. If the Pirates can go 6-3 on this road trip and 17-7 in September, they would finish the season with a record of 86-76. In their last 33 games they would have to play at a .697 winning percentage pace. If the Pirates could do this the Phillies would need to go 16-18, the Padres would need to go 18-16 and the Diamondbacks would go 19-15 for them all to finish with the same record of 86-76. This is the main reason that Baseball Reference puts the Pirates chances of getting into the postseason at 2.2%. The Pirate have to play their best baseball of the season and get some big time help from at least 2 other teams. This does not even take into account the Marlins and the Cardinals who are 1.5 and 2 games ahead of the Pirates. Can the Pirates even get on this hot of a streak? Does management even know how to go about making something like this even possible? That is the bigger question. My answer is they do not. Hopefully for the last time this season I will show what the Pirates should do, but we know they won’t, to have any chance of making the playoffs.

First thing they need to do is come up with a plan for the 5th starter. I would do the opener for Carmen Mlodzinski and see what happens. I would never let him start a game again. They do have a left hander down at Indianapolis, Connor Wietgrefe, who has started 10 games and has not done too badly. He has not set the world on fire but has had some solid outings, including an 8 inning stint giving up no runs. It would finally put a lefty in the rotation. He has pitched 3 years in the minors and has a 3.15 ERA in 53 starts. It would be a bold move that the Pirates would never make but anything has to be better than the way Mlodzinski is pitching. They need to get Ronny Simon back up. He is not that great but anything is better than Billy Cook. Finally, down the stretch they need to go with one lineup. If we are not down to the nitty gritty now, I do not know when that will be. Rafael Flores needs to catch everyday including day games after night games. Jared Triolo needs to move to shortstop every day, a major defensive position. Reynolds or Mangum need to DH. That leaves Horwitz, Lowe, Valdez, Gonzales, and Cruz to fill out the rest of the lineup. They need to play every day, no matter who the pitcher is, lefty or righty. Hopefully Griffin will come back on September 4th, and it will not be too late. Anything is possible in the world of sports. Over the next 2 weeks we should see if the season was saved by that walk off win on Wednesday. I would love for that to be true and see the Pirates make a real run at the playoffs. This Pirate coaching and managerial staff are just not capable of making the moves that could make it happen. Stay tuned.

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Pirates Morning Report: Long Ball To The Rescue

Final Score: Pirates 4 Tigers 3

Why The Pirates Won: What looked like it would be another frustrating loss turned into a walk-off win thanks to three late home runs. Rafael Flores hit a solo shot in the bottom of the 7th to make the score 3-2. In the bottom of the 9th, Flores hit another home run with one out to tie the game 3-3. One out later, Brandon Lowe hit the right field foul pole to win the game. All of this offset a terrible starting lineup the Pirates threw out there, with the last 3 batters having OPS’s of .667, .621, and .567. The league average is .719. The worst team OPS in the MLB is .682, by the Toronto Blue Jays. I have withheld the names of the players to save their families further embarrassment, and it is not their fault that they were forced to play. One was fortunate because Flores pinch-hit for him in the 7th inning. One of the players was pinch-hit for by a player with a worse OPS than his. Paul Skenes had another subpar outing, throwing 81 pitches in 4 and 1/3 innings of work. He threw 46 of those pitches for strikes. Compare that with Braxton Ashcraft the day before, where he threw 61 strikes on 80 pitches. Skenes walked a Ramirez-like 4 batters. Skenes’s miss is mostly on his arm side, off the plate. His release point is 3 degrees higher than it was last year. I am writing this so the Pirates coaching staff will realize this and help Skenes out. They must not be aware of these issues that Skenes has, or you would think they would correct it. Maybe their solution will be to rest him for 10 days, the wild card race be damned.

Key Moments Of The Game: After giving up a double and a walk, followed by a strikeout and a single that made the score 2-1, Skenes was taken out in the top of the 5th. There were runners on 1st and 3rd with one out when Gregory Soto entered the game. On the very first pitch Soto threw, Kevin McGonigle rifled a drive into right-center field that short-hopped the wall. Oneil Cruz and Nick Gonzales combined on a great relay to throw the runner on first out at the plate by a country mile. Soto got the next batter to fly out to Cruz, and the Tigers could only get the one run. It eventually wound up costing them the game. Things got a little dicey in the top of the 9th. Mason Montgomery came on in the 9th and immediately gave up a single, a strikeout, and another single to put runners on 1st and 2nd with one out. He struck out Hao-Yu Lee on four pitches. Eduardo Valencia was called on to pinch hit. He battled hard, and on the 6th pitch of the at-bat, Flores tried to pick the runner off 1st, and the ball went into right field. The runners could only advance one base, putting runners on 2nd and 3rd. Valencia hit a ground ball to the right side that Spencer Horwitz made the play on and tossed to Montgomery to end the inning. The Tigers missed some opportunities, and the Pirates were able to pull out the win in the bottom of the 9th.

Next game: Friday night, the Dodgers in L.A. The Pirates embark on a 9 game road trip where they play the Dodgers, Padres and Cardinals. The Pirates have 3 things they HAVE TO DO if they want to get back in the race or at least play some meaningful baseball in September. They cannot get swept by the Dodgers and they have to sweep the Padres and the Cardinals. That is a very tall order. That would make a 7 and 2 road trip. Their record would stand at 70-68. They would have 24 games left in the season. They have 15 of those games at home. They would have to win at least 16 of those 24 games which would set their record at 86-76. That might get them in the playoffs. It is a monumental task but that is the position they have put themselves in. They did move up to 5.5 games behind in the wild card. They have to go on a tear right now against some of their toughest competition of the year. Stay tuned.

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Pirates Morning Report: Ashcraft Does It Again

Final Score: Pirates 4 Tigers 1

Why the Pirates Won: Ashcraft backed up his complete game gem with a spectacular 8-inning performance, throwing only 80 pitches. The only reason it was not another complete game was that the Pirates were too foolish to let him come out for the 9th inning. Even though Mason Montgomery overcame an opening error by Brandon Lowe to mow down the next three batters, it was a wasteful use of the bullpen when you have a 4-1 lead going into the 9th. Ashcraft should have been allowed to come out for the 9th, and if he let a guy on base, then bring Montgomery in. Ashcraft gave up 1 run, again on a solo home run, on 5 hits, striking out 4 and walking none. Of the 80 pitches he threw, 61 were for strikes. Talk about pounding the strike zone! The Pirates made the most of their 6 hits to push across the 4 runs. Oneil Cruz made his first start in 2 months and hit a long home run in his second at-bat to give the Pirates the lead, 2-1. They put men on 2nd and 3rd with no outs in the same inning but needed a 2-out hit by Spencer Horwitz to score another run. They added another run in the bottom of the 8th to make it 4-1. It was a good win to even the series.

Key Moments of the Game: After the Cruz homer in the 5th, Jake Mangum got a bunt single, and Rafael Flores doubled down the left field line that hopped into the stands to put runners on 2nd and 3rd with no outs. Jacob Gonzalez showed why the White Sox got rid of him by swinging at 5 pitches out of the strike zone on an eleven-pitch at-bat. He hit a 49 MPH ground ball to first with no runners advancing. Jared Triolo grounded out to 3rd, with Mangum being thrown out at the plate when he failed to touch home plate and then did not scramble back to touch it. Spencer Horwitz saved the day by taking a 1-2 pitch and getting a single into right field to score a very important 3rd run. After the Pirates took the lead, Ashcraft did not let the Tigers get anything going, allowing only one runner to get into scoring position in the last 3 innings he pitched. It was a no-stress win for the Pirates.

Next Game: This afternoon, Tigers in Pittsburgh. The Pirates have a chance to win their second series in a row. Paul (Mystery Man) Skenes goes for the Pirates today with a couple of day extra rest. We will see if it makes a difference. Skenes has had a mediocre season so far and no one is talking. Skenes has had the deadly combination of a lack of velocity and lack of command. No one is saying he has any injuries even something minor. Skenes has said it is more mental but really does not elaborate. Obviously, the pitching coaches are clueless because it would be fixed. The Pirates are still 6.5 games out of the wild card as the Phillies and Padres stay hot. The Diamondbacks are faltering right now losers of 3 in a row. The Pirates need to get super hot and hope another team falters. Their odds stayed at 1.1% to make the post season.

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Pirates Morning Report: Another Starting Pitcher Failure

Final Score: Pirates 5 Tigers 8

Why The Pirates Lost: Carmen Mlodzinski had his third bad start in a row. In 8 and 1/3 innings he has given up 13 earned runs, a whopping 20 hits, walking 5 and striking 5. This 2 year experiment of making Mlodzinski a starter should end immediately. Why it was done in the first place I will never know. After falling behind 8-1 the Pirates rallied to make the score 8-5 in the bottom of the 6th. The Tiger bullpen really shut down the Pirates the last 3 innings. The Pirates only had two base runners on a walk and an error in the bottom of the 7th. They went down in order in both the 8th and the 9th. The Pirate offense tried to stay aggressive but fell back into some old habit. Esmerlyn Valdez, who was 0 for 5 with 3 strike outs had one at bat where he looked at all 4 pitches with 3 being called strikes. Bryan Reynolds was 0 for 5 with 3 strikeouts. He was at least in the aggressive mode, swinging at most of the pitches that were in the zone. It was another disappointing lost for the Pirates.

Key Moments Of The Game: Not starting with an opener for Mlodzinski was the big key to the game. I have written about this many times. They have done that two times with Mlodzinski and he has pitched his best, 11 innings giving up just 2 runs. Don’t do it management team. Just continue having no chance of winning games that he starts. Mlodzinski walked the first batter of the game. Looked like it was not going to hurt him getting the next two outs. He gave up 3 singles in a row and Tigers got out to a 2-0 lead. In the top of the 2nd, they made it 4-0 on a single and a home run. In the top of the 3rd, he gave up 2 more singles, but the Tigers did not score. He wound up throwing 59 pitches for the 3 innings. The Tigers were able to add on against Isaac Mattson and Yohan Ramirez. Ramirez was particularly wild walking 3 batters in one inning which helped the Tigers to score 3 runs, which proved to be the margin of difference. It led to that familiar Pirate pitching line of 3 runs on 2 hits. Another game where the entire Pirate team looked lost, and the other playoff contender they were playing looked focused and ready to play.

Next Game: Tonight, Tigers in Pittsburgh. Braxton Ashcraft will go for the Pirates tonight. It will be interesting to see if Ashcraft can back up his outstanding last performance. It is sometimes not the easiest thing to do. The Pirates continue to muddle along going back and forth between winning and losing. It seems they have been doing this for the last 4 months with losing becoming more frequent lately. They are now down to having a 1.1% chance of making the playoffs. The Pirates are tied for last in the division and 6.5 games behind in the wild card with 4 teams to plow through to make the playoffs. They have a brutal 9 game road trip coming up. It will be interesting to see how the Pirate broadcast booth spins all of that. Stay tuned.

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Pirates Morning Report: See What Happens When You Swing At The Ball

Final Score: Pirates 8 Red Sox 3

Why the Pirates Won: The Pirates did a complete reversal hitting-wise from Saturday night. They went aggressive at the plate, and it paid off. In the first inning, Valdez doubled on the 3rd pitch. Reynolds doubled on the 1st pitch. Lowe singled on the 1st pitch, and the Pirates had a 2-0 lead. In the bottom of the 3rd, Triolo singled on the 3rd pitch. Valdez doubled on the 3rd pitch. Reynolds singled on the 2nd pitch. Lowe singled on the 1st pitch. Mangum singled on the 2nd pitch. Yorke singled on the 3rd pitch. Davis hit a sacrifice fly on the 2nd pitch, and before you could say, “Why did you not do this on Saturday night?” the Pirates led 7-0. The bullpen game worked out well with the 7-run lead. Lake Bachar pitched 3 scoreless innings. Hunter Barco gave up a 3-run homer in the middle inning of the 3 innings he worked. Then the rains came for a 2-hour and 34-minute delay. The game was officially played in 2 hours and 34 minutes. Pretty neat, huh? I wonder if that has ever happened before. The Pirates won their first series since beating the Guardians 2 out of 3 coming out of the All-Star break. It was a good win but not good enough with the hole they have dug. I hate being the bearer of bad news, but the Diamondbacks, Padres, Cardinals, and the Phillies all won. The win did get the Pirates out of last place, but they are still 6.5 games out of the last wild card spot.

Key Moments Of The Game: Not taking anything away from Lake Bachar, but the Red Sox did squander some opportunities. In the 2nd, they had a walk and a single to start the inning but grounded into a double play on a 3-2 pitch that was right down the middle. The next batter struck out. In the top of the 3rd, they opened the inning with a double but could not get the runner around. After the 3-run homer, they never really threatened to make a game of it. The Pirate batters started out aggressive and had a great offensive performance. Will they remember this and continue that approach? That kind of strategy may not work with all pitchers, but hopefully the Pirates will know when to use it again. What am I thinking? They will probably never do this again. I think we have more of a chance of them using an opener for Mlodzinski.

Next Game: Tonight, Tigers in Pittsburgh. The Pirates have had great success against the American League. They are 21 and 12 against the Junior Circuit. It gives one hope for a sweep against the Tigers. The pressure will be equal if not a little more on the Tigers. They are in the wild card race being one game out of the last spot. They have also lost 3 in a row, having just been swept by the White Sox at home. If there was ever a team that was ripe for the taking it is this team. Plus, they were sellers at the trade deadline trading Tarik Skubal and Casey Mize their two best starters. This could start the amazing charge. If it is ever going to start this has to be it. So, you are saying there’s a chance. Just listen to Dumb and Dumber in the Pirate broadcast booth tonight if you do not think so. Stay tuned.

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Pirates Morning Report: Another Big Game Failure

Final Score: Pirates 0 Red Sox 4

Why The Pirates Lost: The Pirates had a lousy game plan against one of the best pitchers in baseball, Sonny Gray. Gray is known for throwing the first pitch over for a strike. The Pirates stood there and looked at it for most of the game. During Gray’s 7-inning stint, the Pirates took 12 called strikes on the first or second pitch of the at-bat. Great scouting report and execution, Buccos. Four of the Pirates’ 6 hits came on the 1st or 2nd pitch. Even that did not seem to sink in as the way to attack Sonny Gray. The result was no runs on 6 hits and a walk. The Red Sox’s A team out of the bullpen did not allow a hit in the last two innings. Jared Jones pitched a good 5 innings. He gave up one run on what else, a home run. He wiggled off the hook twice, having runners on 2nd and 3rd, once with one out and once with nobody out. He did not allow a run either time. Luke Weaver gave up 3 runs in the top of the 9th. The Pirates had a chance to make a statement and essentially stood there with their bats on their shoulders. They remain firmly entrenched in last place in the Central Division and 6.5 games out of the wild card.

Key Moments Of The Game: If the Pirates had won the game, it would have been those two big jams that Jared Jones worked out of in the 3rd and 4th innings. He gave up a one-out walk and double in the 3rd. He struck out the next two batters. In the top of the 4th, things looked even worse. The inning opened with a walk and double, putting runners on 2nd and 3rd with no outs. Jones bore down and got a ground out, strike out, and fly out to end the inning. The Pirates’ big chance came in the bottom of the 5th. After one out, the Pirates strung two singles together, putting runners on 1st and 2nd. Jared Triolo came up to “bat”. He stood there and looked at 5 straight pitches to strike out. In his next at-bat, he took the first 4 pitches, with 2 being strikes. He flied out on a pitch out of the strike zone. He swung at one pitch out of 10, and it was not in the strike zone. Spencer Horwitz followed Triolo’s horrible at-bat with a walk to load the bases. Brandon Lowe came up. He took a strike, did not swing at a ball in the dirt, and swung at a pitch about chin high. He took a ball low and inside. He swung at the next pitch that was exactly in the same place, low and inside, to strike out. I guess you could say he at least tried to get a hit. The Pirates got 1 hit in the last 4 innings.

Next Game: This afternoon, the Red Sox in Pittsburgh. The Pirates are going to open with Lake Bachar today and after that who knows what they are going to do. Yesterday was disappointing not so much that they lost but the fact that it looked like they had never heard of or seen Sonny Gray before. This season has shown that the Pirates do not continue to do something even when it is successful. We are getting close to the point where the Pirates will start to play meaningless games. They are in danger of losing their 8th series in a row. They will play the injury card. In reality it has been poor management and bad decisions that put the Pirates where they are today. They would have to win at least 10 in a row or 13 out of 15 just to get back in the hunt. Stay tuned.