Pirate Morning Report: Half The Losing Formula

Final Score: Pirates 2 Diamondbacks 3 10 innings

Why The Pirates Lost: The normal formula for Pirate baseball is to have poor starting pitching with very little or no hitting to ensure a loss. Mitch Keller messed that all up yesterday, by pitching a stellar 7 innings, shutting out the Diamondbacks on 1 hit. The only thing negative about his performance was that he walked 5, that pretty much kept him from going more than 7 innings. Bottom of the 8th and enter Colin Holderman the man with 99 to 100 MPH fastball. What does he throw for his first two pitches? Two rinky dink cutters, the 2nd one right down the middle, and Alek Thomas knocks it in the stands, tying the game. The Pirate offense kept up their end of the bargain of the losing formula. In 10 innings they got 4 hits, struck out 15 times and managed just 2 walks. It’s good to know that at least one aspect of this team won’t let you down.

Key Moments Of The Game: It all came down to the 10th inning. The Diamondbacks played some defense and the Pirates did not. In the top of the 10th the Pirates got the runner on 2nd home and had 2nd and 3rd with two outs. Josh Palacios hit a hot smash down the first base line, that first baseman Christian Walker made a spectacular diving stop, and with the pitcher covering got the final out of the inning. In the bottom of the 10th the first Diamondback batter bunted to move the runner over to third and the Pirates botched the play. You can argue that Gonzales was late getting over to 2nd but the bottom line was the Diamondbacks were giving the Pirates an out and they refused to take it. That’s why they call it a sacrifice. That runner scored the winning run of the game sending the Pirates to their 5th loss on this road trip.

Next Game: This afternoon, Diamondbacks in Phoenix. When the Pirates embarked on this western road trip, I wrote I would be mildly surprised if they won 2 games and shocked it they won 3. These Pirates do not disappoint. If they lose today (if?), they will be 20-42 in their last 62 games for a grand winning percentage of .322. This is the last game before the All Star break, Thank God.