Final Score: Pirates 4 Royals 1
Why The Pirates Won: A strong start by Andre Jackson going 5 and 2/3 innings giving up only 1 run, 2 hits, walking 2, while striking out 7. It looked like that he would strike out everybody starting out by striking out the first 5 batters he faced, then 2 more in the third. The bullpen had one of their better outings pitching a scoreless 3 and 1/3 innings giving up 2 hits, walking only 1. The Pirate offense made the most of their 6 hits getting 5 of them in the first three innings. There were a lot of collars worn last night as 5 Pirates failed to get a hit. The home run ball helped with Bryan Reynolds and Jack Suwinski hitting solo homers. This is a nice three game win streak the Pirates have put together. We will see if they can continue in St. Louis.
Key Moment Of The Game: The Pirates scored a run in the top of the first on the Reynolds’ home run. They opened the 2nd with a bang. Back to back doubles by Liover Peguero and of all people Vinny Capra, followed by a Suwinski single giving the Pirates a quick 3-0 lead. Capra was playing third base on a “scheduled” day off for Ke’Bryan Hayes. The Pirates hottest hitter by far had to have a day off. Wouldn’t it have been nice if they had unscheduled his day off. By the way, don’t look now but the Pirates do not play today. I think that management was just trying to give the Royals a chance and Capra really messed that up. The Pirate bats went really quiet the rest of the way getting only 2 more hits. Fortunately, one of them was the 7th inning homer by Suwinski to give the Pirates a 4-1 lead.
Next Game: Tomorrow, Cardinals in St. Louis. The sweep of the Royals put a kink in management’s plans to make another run at getting the No. 1 pick in the draft. Mitch Keller is starting for the Pirates in St. Louis so there is a least a half way chance the Pirates might make it 4 in row. Although it looks like McCutchen, Suwinski, Rodriguez, and Peguero have a scheduled day off. I can guarantee you the Alika Williams and Josh Palacios will be in the lineup with their On Base Average of .284 and .258 respectively. Management does not give up easily.
The Goofy Game of Golf/Life Searching for the Answer 