Final Score: Pirates 2 Brewers 7
Why The Pirates Lost: Another game where the Pirates showed why they are in last place. They did get a decent start from Barry (It’s Never My) Falter. He gave up 4 runs on 5 hits over 5 innings but the defense behind him was very shaky and he deserved a little better fate. There were errors, catcher interference, and balls that should have been caught but weren’t that all led to runs. The Pirates are 24th in fielding out of 30 teams. When Falter left the game the score was 4-2. Future bullpen ace Isaac Mattson took over the game. He did get through the 6th with no runs scoring. He came out for the top of the 7th. Then he gave up a leadoff single and walked 4 out of the next 5 batters to give the Brewers a 6-2 lead. The batter he did not walk, he struck out so there were 5 batters in a row where the ball was not put in play, zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Of course, Derek The Fox allowed him to do this to make sure the Pirates had no chance of winning. The Brewers got their 7th run on a sacrifice fly off another Pirate future great Joey Wentz Did I Come From. Then there was that potent Pirate offense. They did get 10 hits and a walk, striking out only 6 times. They still managed to only score 2 runs by going 1 for 8 with runners in scoring position and stranding 8 runners for the game. All in all, it was the Pirates looking like the Pirates.
Key Moment Of The Game: Just before the game the Pirates announced that they had just DFA Rowdy Tellez and Michael Taylor. The team was completely demoralized and really could not put much effort in last night’s game. Many in the press got their panties in a wad over the fact that Tellez needed just 4 more plate appearances to get a $200,000 bonus. Do you think that Rawhide Rowdy really deserved a bonus the way he played all year? His WAR was -0.8 and he had an OPS+ of 91. He was awful in the field and absolutely showed no hustle. The only way this would have been better is, if he would have needed one more at bat to get the bonus. The way I look at it, the Pirates screwed him just like he screwed the Pirates. The only criticism that Ben Cherington should get is for signing the bum in the first place.
The Next Game: Tonight, Brewers in Pittsburgh. Do you think that Liover Peguero will start tonight? They bring the guy up with just 6 games to go and he did not play last night. Derek The Fox will be contemplating that along with why he continues to lead off the game with Isiah Kiner-Falefa. When McCutchen led off the Pirate offense seemed to do much better. He is also trying to find ways that he can manage the bullpen worse. Now that will be hard to accomplish.
