Final Score: Pirates 3 Cardinals 5
Why The Pirates Lost: Paul Skenes proved to be human. Maybe he was just disgusted when he looked at the starting lineup. There were 3 players who should not have been playing; Adam Frazier, Tommy Pham, and Emmanuel Valdez. They went 1 for 9 with 4 strikeouts. The team struck out 9 times, with 5 being called third strikes. They went 1 for 6 with runners in scoring position. Through 8 innings, they only had 3 hits. They had Jack Suwinski with a .231 on-base average lead off. Joey Bart was 2 for 4 the night before and did not start last night. The same for Andrew McCutchen. Paul Skenes was discouraged. He knew this lineup practically had no chance of scoring any runs. As a result, he had his first truly bad outing of his career. He gave up 5 runs on 6 hits in 6 innings. He did strike out 7 and walked 1. Maybe Skenes was a little hesitant to really cut it loose in cold weather. His fastball rarely touched 99 MPH. Most of the time, it sat around 97 to 98 MPH. Management basically lost this game before it even started.
Key Moments Of The Game: Derek Shelton took out the lineup card. Skenes retired the first 6 batters he faced, striking out 3. The Cardinals got to him in the third inning. Two singles and a triple made the score 2-0 with one out. Skenes struck out the next batter. It looked like he might get out of the inning with only the two runs. Brendan Donovan hit a 94 MPH splinker into left field, driving in the 3rd run of the inning. This run seemed to have added significance, considering the Pirate lineup. They touched up Skenes for 2 more runs in the 6th. Shelton put his better players in, but it was too late. The Pirate “winning streak” ended at 2, thanks to a horrible lineup card.
Next Game: This afternoon, Cardinals in Pittsburgh. Mitch Keller is hoping for a bounce-back start today. I can hardly imagine what this lineup will be like. They may rest Cruz depending on how his hand is. I am fine with that. They should start Tsung-Che Cheng today and move IKF over to 2nd. They will probably sit IKF, and Frazier will still be there. Supposedly, they are going with McCutchen in right field. Bryan Reynolds continues to have problems with a triceps condition. This keeps him from playing right field. Remember when they were talking about Reynolds seeing some action at first base? What about now? Even though he did not catch the whole game, they will probably sit Rodriguez. Not all teams follow this “rule” of not catching a day game after a night game. Maybe the Pirates will find a way to get Pham, Suwinski, and Canario in the game at the same time. Suwinski leads this group with a batting average of .130. The Pirates have a halfway decent team. They just don’t get to play.
The Goofy Game of Golf/Life Searching for the Answer 