Final Score: Pirates 2 Mets 1
Why The Pirates Won: Mitch Keller pitched a solid 7 innings giving up only one run on 2 hits, walking 2, and striking out 7. Dauri Moreta pitched a nice 8th inning making a comeback of his own after giving up the big hit on Saturday. Bednar got the save with a little help from the men in blue. The Mets scored in the top of the 4th to take a 1-0 lead. In the bottom of the 4th Jack Suwinski led off with a home run to tie the game 1-1. Ji Hwan Bae got a hustling double, and then went to third on a wild pitch. Tucupita(I Don’t Bunt Every Time There Is A Runner On Third Base) Marcano lined a single to right field to score the deciding run. There was no scoring after that, but you had to know that the Pirates would make it interesting before claiming victory.
Key Moment Of The Game: The Pirates had the 2-1 lead going into the top of the 9th with David Bednar coming in to get the save. Francisco Lindor led off the 9th and fell behind in the count 1 and 2. He was able to work the count to 3 and 2, by fouling off 2 more pitches. On the 8th pitch of the at bat Bednar threw him a curveball that hung a little outside, but he got the called strike for the 1st out. If he had not gotten the call, Tommy Pham’s double would have tied the game. The next 2 batters flew out to medium left and center field to end the game. The Pirates had the 6-3 homestand and improved to 34-30 to move into 1st place by a full game on June 12th. How about that sport fans!
Next Game: Tomorrow, the Cubs in Chicago. The Pirates are going to play 10 of their next 13 games on the road, with a brief 3 game homestand against these same Cubs. Nine of the next 13 games will be with division rivals, including 6 with the Cubs and 3 with the Brewers. The Pirates have had a good road record so far this year and will need to continue to do so. Here is hoping that they can at least tread a little water, going 6-7 or 7-6. I guess you can’t feel too bad about losing 2 to the A’s. They just went into Milwaukee and swept the Brewers. Thank you, Oakland A’s. Do you think the sabermetric boys had that one figured out when they were analyzing the balanced schedule at the start of the season?
The Goofy Game of Golf/Life Searching for the Answer 