Pirate Morning Report, You Knew They Weren’t Going To Do It

Final Score: Pirates 7 Phillies 8

Why The Pirates Lost: Poor pitching was the culprit last night. Zach Thompson just had a bad start. He seemed to have righted the ship after giving up 3 runs in the 1st and then 1 in the 2nd. He got through the next 3 innings unscathed, dodging a lead off double in the 5th. Then we came to the key moment of the game. More on that later. Of course the Pirates did rally from the 8-0 deficit. Cal Mitchel hit a 2 run homer in the bottom the 7th, to cut it to 8-2. Then came the ninth inning rally. The Phillies big mistake was leaving Familia in the game after he gave up the hit to Greg Allen. If that guy gets a hit off you, you know your stuff is just not on tonight. They still left him in when he walked Van Meter, another cardinal sin, for a pitcher to make. In the end the rally fell short, and the Pirates lost a’gain.

The Key Moment of The Game: Thompson got those first two outs in the top of the 6th and it looked like this was going to come under the heading of a gritty outing, if not all that great of one. Then in a heartbeat there was a single, a single and then Kyle Schwarber hit the 3 run blast that seemed to put the game away, giving the Phillies a 7-0 lead.

Next Game: Tonight, Phillies in Pittsburgh. Even though the rally fell short the Pirates did score 7 runs. They did strike out 10 times again but maybe the bats are about to wake up. Cal Mitchel had one of his better games going 3 for 4 along with home run.