Pirates Morning Report, Hello Tucupita, and Goodbye Tsutsugo

Final Score: Pirates 8 Brewers 7

Why The Pirates Won: For whatever reason the Pirates seem to thrive on Brewer pitching. Last night they scored 8 runs on 12 hits, accepted 3 walks, and only struck out 7 times. The hits included one double, one triple, and two home runs. The Pirates needed all 8 runs as management decided to try a bullpen game with an exhausted overworked bullpen. They looked it, giving up 7 runs on 12 hits, walking 5 and only striking out 6. Four of the 6 pitchers did pretty well but it was Beede and De Los Santos that gave up all the runs. They won because of what Greg Brown calls the youth movement. I call it the upgrade movement. A starting lineup with no Van Meter or Tsutsugo. That was a recipe for victory.

Biggest Moment of The Game: The Cruz 2-out home run in the bottom of the 7th, after the baserunning blunder by Ke’Bryan Hayes, and yes it was a bonehead play despite what Bob Walk said. It stretched the Pirate lead to 7-4. There would have been no walk off by Bryan Reynolds if Cruz does not hit that bomb.

Next Game: This afternoon: Brewers, in Pittsburgh. Can the Pirates get the sweep? Rumor has it that Derek Shelton was sobbing when he was told the Tsutsugo was DFA’d. He was heard saying “How are we ever going to keep that top 5 draft pick if he is not in the lineup every day. We can’t have a bullpen game every time, it would look like we are not trying to win. Van Meter can only do so much”.