Final Score: Pirates 4 Diamondbacks 2
Why The Pirates Won: The Diamondbacks took a page out of the Pirate offense by not being able to take advantage of opportunities. Twice they led off innings with doubles and could not score despite being able to move the runner over with less than 2 outs. Four other innings they got the leadoff man on and could not score. They were 0 for 8 with runners in scoring position. They scored their 2 runs on a home run and the Pirates throwing the ball around again. Does anyone know of any 8 foot tall infielders around? If you do, contact the Pirates immediately. The Pirate offense was not great, but everyone contributed in a small but effective way. Ji Man Choi hit a 2 run home run and every position player either got on base or contributed to scoring. As you will see, even Austin Hedges. It was a bullpen game for the Pirates, and they came through, shutting out the Diamondbacks over the last 6 innings and limiting them to only 4 hits for the game.
Key Moment Of The Game: With the score tied going into the 5th inning, the Pirates actually manufactured a run. Tucupita Marcano and Nick Gonzales started the inning by each getting singles. Austin(Designated Sacrificer, DS For Short) Hedges bunted the runners over to 2nd and 3rd. Jack Suwinski hit a fly ball deep enough to score Marcano easily and the Pirates had a 3-2 lead that they protected the rest of the way until adding on in the top of the 9th, to make the score 4-2. They finished the road trip 2-5 and are 41 and 49 at the All Star break.
Next Game: Friday, Giants in Pittsburgh. This week there will be 2 blogs on analyzing what the Pirates did over these first 90 games and what to expect the rest of the season.
The Goofy Game of Golf/Life Searching for the Answer 