Final Score: Pirates 1 Red Sox 6
Six Game Synopsis: A little different format today because the last two games had an eerie similarity to them. This time it was the bottom of the 4th and the top of the 5th, instead of the bottom of the 5th and top of the 6th. The Pirates trailed 2-1 going into those half innings. In a nutshell the Pirates hit the ball hard and came up with nothing. There was even a diving catch involved in both innings by the left fielder. In the top of the 5th the Red Sox added 2 runs to pad their lead with the 2 runs scoring on a little bloop down the left field line. The inning was helped along by a walk and a hit batsman to load the bases. The Pirates have lost 6 in a row to fall to 11-11 and now are in their accustomed spot of 4th place in the division. During the streak the Pirates have scored 9 runs, on 33 hits, walking 20 times and striking out 55 times. On the other side of the coin they have given up 36 runs, on 49 hits, walking 25 and striking out 50 batters. Until yesterday you could have said the Pirates weren’t doing too bad in the field but then the defense decided to contribute to the streak by having a horrible day committing 2 errors and looking lackadaisical. The good news here (I know I’m really stretching here) is that other than Jarred Jones’ 5 inning 1 hit performance, the Pirates have not wasted any good performances. There are no 9-7 or 2-1 losses to be seen. During this streak there are two places where the Pirates have been very bad. The pitchers for some reason can’t find the strike zone. They are averaging 4 walks per game in these last 6 games. This from a staff that at one point had 4 out of 5 games with no walks. The offense has hit only one home run during the streak and that was by home run king Connor Joe. Of course in order to even get singles you have to swing at the ball, which the Pirates seem to have real hard time doing. Finally, there is the Pirates broadcast booth who is on a 22 game bad broadcast streak. In trying to explain the ridiculous way the Pirates are handling Jones and Paul Skenes, they said essentially that they are saving them for the playoffs. In the famous words of former NFL coach Jim Mora, PLAYOFFS, YOU KIDDING ME PLAYOFFS. I JUST HOPE WE CAN WIN A GAME. That’s all I’m hoping for when it comes to the Pirates.
Next Game: Tonight, Brewers in Pittsburgh. Jared Jones will start for the Pirates and Derek Shelton said they are going to limit Jones’ pitch count to 12 so get there early. Can they snap the streak tonight against the first place Brewers? Who knows, who cares. Hopefully the coaching staff hasn’t slept well.
The Goofy Game of Golf/Life Searching for the Answer 