Final Score: Pirates 0 Diamondbacks 5
Why The Pirates Lost: Another offensive debacle. No runs on 6 hits and 2 walks. They were 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position. It really wouldn’t have made any difference but Andrew Heaney had a bad outing. In 5 innings he gave up 5 runs, 8 hits and walked 3. The one bright spot Braxton Ashcroft came in and pitched a nice 3 innings giving up no runs. But enough of this already. This is just too good to pass up. Going into the off season both the Pirates and Diamondbacks had obvious needs at first base. The Diamondbacks traded for Josh Naylor. They gave up one pitcher for him. His current stats; slash line .287/.348/.444 for an OPS+ 122. The Pirates traded for Spencer Horwitz or as Greg Brown calls him Hor-A-Witz. They gave up 3 players including Luis Ortiz. Horwitz was damaged goods and had to have wrist surgery. Small sample size, but his slash line is .200/.263/.348 for an OPS+ 68. We all know what the big difference is between these players. Horwitz makes around $800,000 and won’t be a free agent until 2031. Naylor is 10.9 million and will be a free agent next year. The Pirates spent close to that much on Pham, Frazier and Heaney. Even if you want to give Frazier and Heaney a little love did they really need them with the young players they have. Absolutely not. This little scenario explains why these teams are where they are. One fighting like hell for a playoff spot. The other trying to avoid another 100 loss season.
The Key Moment Of The Game: Before I get into that the blog will be coming from San Diego this week so it will be mid to late morning. I watched the Padres last night. Again it was such a pleasure to listen to true professional baseball announcers. They make the game so much better of an experience. When you boil it right down there were no truly key moments. The Pirates were never in this one. Yeah I know they had the bases loaded and no outs in the top of the 8th. Really did anyone think they were going to score. Be honest.
Next Game: Tonight Diamondbacks in Phoenix. Corbin Burnes is going for the Diamondbacks. The Pirates have had some success against him but it would be shocking if they have any tonight. Mike Burrows is going for the Pirates. This looks like such a mismatch. Many times you will get surprised. That sure would be nice.
The Goofy Game of Golf/Life Searching for the Answer 