Final Score: Pirates 5 Rockies 2
Why The Pirates Won: The Pirates brought out the long ball with Bryan Reynolds, Andrew McCutchen, and Jack Suwinski all going deep last night in the thin air. Another bullpen game with Luis Ortiz being the bulk man for the 2nd time was very effective. Ortiz went 5 innings, giving up one run on 7 hits, walking no one, while striking out 3. The Pirates were only leading 2-1 going into the 7th when Jack Suwinski hit the big 2 out 2 run homer to give the Pirates a nice lead at 4-1. The top 7 batters in the lineup all got hits, as the Pirates cranked out 9 hits to go along with one walk to put 5 runs on the board. Pirate pitching also gave up 9 hits and walked 4 but as we shall see Colorado showed why they are 21 games under 500.
Key Moments Of The Game: In the bottom of the third with one out, the Rockies got a double and a single to put runners on 1st and 3rd with one out. On the second pitch of the at bat Ezequiel Tovar grounded into a double play to end the inning. Things only got worse for the Rockies in the 5th. The Rockies opened the inning with a single. Charlie Blackman hit a ground ball down the first base line that woke up Rawhide Rowdy, but too late, that went down the right field line for an 82 MPH ground ball double. Imagine, they put this guy in late in the game for defensive purposes. But the Rockies got stupid by sending the runner home from third on a short pop fly to right field. Connor Joe threw out the runner easily to complete the double play. Tovar tripled in the run, but instead of the Rockies being ahead 2-1 with one out and runner on third, they had a runner on 3rd with 2 out and the score was tied 1-1. The next batter grounded out to Rawhide Rowdy which would have been an interesting play at the plate, but instead was just the third out. McCutchen untied the game the very next inning with a long home run and the Pirates were on their way to an opening game win in the series.
Next Game: Tonight, Rockies in Denver. Jared Jones will start tonight, and we will see how his stuff plays at higher altitude. According to assistant coach Greg Brown, Paul Skenes is not going to pitch until Monday, so who knows what the Shadow has up his sleeve for Sunday. Forget about a series win or sweep. The Pirates so desperate for money are going to have Skenes skip a day just so he can pitch at home. What an organization.
The Goofy Game of Golf/Life Searching for the Answer 