Final Score: Pirates 1 Mets 9
Why The Pirates Lost: The offense continues to implode. They even seemed to get worse as the game wore on. They only had 5 hits, all singles, and the last 13 batters went down in order. On a positive note,the only one I might add, Oneil Cruz had 2 hits. Henry Davis still can’t make a tag at the plate and Bednar got tuned up in 2/3 innings of work. Barry Falter pitched ok with the new standard for Pirates starters, 5 innings and 78 pitches. Hunter (I love grooving pitches) Stratton won the game for the Mets giving up 4 runs in one inning of work. The Mets are looking to get Stratton in a trade so he can pitch batting practice for them. The Pirates are 11-8 and have fallen to 3rd place.
Key Moment Of The Game: Even though Falter pitched ok, the Mets had the break back inning after the Pirates took a 1-0 lead. They did a similar thing in the first game of the series. This time it was Starling Marte who hit a 2 run homer to quickly put the Mets up 2-1. At the time you did not know, that the Pirates bats would become totally inept, although you should have.
Next Game: Tomorrow night, Red Sox in Pittsburgh. At the moment no starting pitcher has been named for either team. The Pirates are hoping to trade Stratton to the Red Sox if the Mets deal falls through. I have heard that the Pirates are willing to let Stratton go for 30 rosin bags. Any long baseball season is going to be full of ups and downs, with the Pirates hitting a down time right now. They were 2-5 on this road trip. They now are going to play the Red Sox 3 games and the Brewers 4, all at home. A 4-3 home stand is a minimum but 5-2 would be nice. One final note, the Morning Report will be coming from San Diego for the next week, so it will be more like a mid morning report at times.
The Goofy Game of Golf/Life Searching for the Answer 