Final Score: Pirates 4 Dodgers 8
Why The Pirates Lost: Why do you bring in a guy in the bottom of the 8th of a 4-4 game who just came off the IL? This pitcher was not pitching well before he went on the IL. You are playing the World Champion Los Angeles Dodgers. Your team is playing well. You won the first game of the series. Your bullpen has not been overly stressed thanks to some great starting pitching. Welcome to that hollow space between Derek Shelton’s ears. In walks Colin Holderman to the bottom of the 8th when there were many other options. The results were horrendous. He gave up a home run, a double, and a walk. He was pulled, but it was too late; the damage had been done. Joey Wentz came in and promptly gave up a 3-run homer to pinch hitter Enrique Hernandez. The game was essentially over. All of this wasted a pretty good performance by the Pirates. Adam Frazier did have a bad throwing error that allowed the Dodgers to take a 2-1 lead in the 1st. The offense had an acceptable game, scoring 4 runs on 8 hits and 4 walks. They did have 9 strikeouts, their highest total of the road trip. They were in this game until Derek Shelton decided to lose it.
Key Moments Of The Game: It was the ability of the Dodgers to break back in the bottom of the inning that the Pirates took the lead. Oneil Cruz hit his 4th leadoff homer of the season, giving the Pirates a 1-0 lead. In the bottom of the 1st, the Dodgers scored 2 runs. The Pirates took a 3-2 lead in the 5th when Oneil Cruz singled in 2 runs. Tommy Pham, who is starting to hit a little bit, almost had a baserunning gaffe. He stopped at 3rd base for some unknown reason but went home when the throw went to 2nd. In the bottom of the 5th, the Dodgers tied the score. Freddie Freeman got the big 2-out hit. The Pirates took the lead 4-3 in the top of the 7th. They had the bases loaded and no one out but could only muster one run. In the bottom of the 7th, the Dodgers tied it 4-4. The Pirate players put in a solid effort. Unfortunately, their effort was wasted by one of the worst managers in baseball, Derek “The Shadow” Shelton.
Next Game: This afternoon (Thank God) Dodgers in Los Angeles. The late-night baseball is over for a while. Barry Falter goes against Tyler Glasnow. The Pirate lineup should be a doozy today. I will not even speculate. They are off on Monday. I wonder if Shelton even knows that. Holderman has said that he is ready to go since he only threw 14 pitches. Shelton said, “That’s great, there’s not much on the line anyway. Just a series win against the Dodgers on the road.”
The Goofy Game of Golf/Life Searching for the Answer 