Final Score: Pirates 2 Phillies 1
Why The Pirates Won: For the second straight game, the Pirates and the Phillies played a game with similar patterns. Each team scored a run by the time the third batter in the lineup made an appearance. Through 6 innings, both starting pitchers had similar lines. Ranger Suarez gave up 1 run on 4 hits. He struck out 4 and walked 1. Andrew Heaney gave up 1 run on 3 hits. He struck out 5 and walked 0. Both pitchers gave up a lot of hard-hit balls. Suarez gave up 6 balls over 95 MPH. Heaney gave up 7 balls over 95 MPH. They always wound up being hit right at someone. In some cases, some brilliant defensive plays were made. Each team scored 1 run in the 1st inning. The score remained that way until the pivotal 7th inning.
Key Moments Of The Game: In the top of the 7th, Andrew Heaney gave up a leadoff double. He wild-pitched the runner to third. He appeared to suffer some kind of leg injury. In came the recently called-up Isaac Mattson. There was a runner on third with no outs. He fell behind Nick Castellanos 3-0. Mattson threw 3 perfect strikes to Castellanos, who did not swing at one of them. One out. The next batter was J.T. Realmuto. On the second pitch, he flew out to very shallow right field. The runner on third stayed put. Two outs. The Phillies sent up pinch hitter Bryson Stott. Stott worked the count to 3-2. He then lifted a high fly ball to Alexander Canario in center field to end the inning. Mattson had pitched out of the jam. Henry Davis came up with one out in the bottom of the inning. On the very first pitch, he drove a changeup 401 feet to left-center field for a home run. This gave the Pirates a 2-1 lead. Dennis Santana and David Bednar protected the lead well. They retired the Phillies in order in the 8th and the 9th.
Next Game: This afternoon, Phillies in Pittsburgh. The Pirates go for the sweep today. Let that sentence sink in for a while. Paul Skenes goes for the Pirates today. The only thing that might stop Skenes today is the weather. The forecast is for a lot of rain. The Pirates won two close, hard-fought games in a row. Granted, they are catching the Phillies at the right time. They are without Bryce Harper. They have lost 9 out of 12. It does not take away the fact that these were the two best games the Pirates played all season. Henry Davis is above a .200 batting average. His OPS+ is 91, the highest it has ever been. He had a nice 7-game run where his average went from .118 to .222. Then he went hitless in 13 at-bats, striking out 6 times. In the last 2 games, he has gone 4 for 7 with 2 home runs. If the Pirates play today, he should be catching for Skenes. If he can somehow turn his career around, it would be a huge plus for this beleaguered team. With injuries abounding at the catching position, this will be his best shot. Let’s hope that he succeeds.
The Goofy Game of Golf/Life Searching for the Answer 