Final Score: Pirates 2 Reds 0
Why The Pirates Won: Paul Skenes, no surprise, and the Pirate’s bullpen, big surprise, combined to throw a 3 hit shutout to salvage the final game of the series. Skenes pitched 5 innings giving up 2 hits, no walks, striking out 9 while throwing 73 pitches. The bullpen took over in the 6th and right away Colin Holderman gave up a lead off single and you thought there goes this 2 run lead. Holderman got the next two outs and and Joey Bart threw out Jonathan India trying to steal to end the inning. The Pirate’s offense was awful again, but Oneil Cruz and Nick Yorke hit solo home runs to give the Pirates all they needed this time. Otherwise things were back to normal for the offense. Even with 5 other hits and 5 walks they could not score a run. They were 0 for 3 with runners in scoring position stranding 9 runners, while striking out 14 times. The pitchers won this game.
Key Moment Of The Game: Carmen Mlodzinski opened the bottom of the 7th by walking the lead off hitter. T. J. Friedl hit a pop up in no man’s land to left field where Billy Cook made a sensational sliding catch. If that had fallen there is no telling what might have happened next. As it was Ty France grounded into a double play ending the inning. The Reds never threatened again to give the Pirates a 2-0 win
Next Game: Tomorrow, Brewers in Pittsburgh. Just 6 games left in this miserable season. The Pirates have three at home with the Brewers and then finish the season with three games in Yankee stadium. There is a rumor that the Yankees are thinking of forfeiting all 3 games so the Pirates won’t desecrate Yankee stadium. The Pirates need to go 3-3 to win as many games as last year. They are lucky that neither team has a lot to play for. The Brewers have a slim chance of catching the Dodgers or Phillies for a first round bye so they may be a little more interested than the Yankees will be.
The Goofy Game of Golf/Life Searching for the Answer 