Final Score: Pirates 4 Marlins 3
Why The Pirates Won: Oneil Cruz had a disastrous opening day game. However, he bounced back and led the Pirates to victory. He walked, singled, and hit a 2-run homer. It gave him 2 runs scored and 2 RBIs. The overall offense was not great. They did get 7 hits and were aided by 4 Marlins’ errors. Mitch Keller pitched an outstanding 6 innings, giving up only 1 run on 5 hits. He struck out 4 and walked 1. He did have his “at ’em” ball working. After yesterday, it was okay to have a little luck. The bullpen shut the Marlins down in the 7th. They did the same in the 8th. They gave up 0 runs on 1 hit and a walk. Then David Bednar came in to pitch the bottom of the 9th. The score was 4-1 Pirates. In 7 pitches, the score changed to 4-3. Bednar walked the 1st batter. Otto Lopez then parked it in the seats on the first pitch. It looked like we were going to see a repeat of game 1. In the next 5 pitches, Bednar got 2 ground ball outs. He struck out Derek Hill on 6 pitches. This ended the game. The Pirates had their first win of the season. Whew!
The Key Moment Of The Game: In the top of the 4th, Oneil Cruz led off with a walk. He stole 2nd and went to 3rd on a bad throw. Joey Bart walked. Andrew McCutchen doubled to left centerfield. The play at second would have been close. Otto Lopez turned his head to tag McCutchen way before the ball got there. The ball hit him right in the ear sending him to the ground. The look on McCutchen’s face was priceless. It was like, what the hell happened to him? Ke’Bryan Hayes then got an infield hit off the pitcher’s throwing hand. The bases were now loaded with no outs. This was where the Pirates reverted back to their incompetent selves. Endy Rodriguez hit a short fly to left field, scoring no one. Adam Frazier did the same thing to the right fielder. The Pirates sent Joey Bart anyway. They probably figured that no one was going to get a hit. Bart would have been out at the plate, but for some unknown reason, the ball was cut off. This enabled Bart to score. It was a gift run to make it 2-0. Cruz’s home run in the next inning made it 4-0. You could say the gift run turned out to be the margin of victory.
Next Game: Late afternoon, the Marlins in Miami. Bailey No Falter Insurance goes for the Pirates. So far, the Marlins have not done well against the left-handers the Pirates have put out there. The Pirates did improve somewhat last night. The Marlins just returned the favor. They handed a win to the Pirates. Even though he has not done anything at the plate, Endy Rodriguez has looked very good at 1st base. He did boot one ground ball in the 1st game, but he has made some smart athletic plays out there. Let’s hope he can get the bat going. Can the Pirates climb above .500 today? Only The Shadow knows.
The Goofy Game of Golf/Life Searching for the Answer 