Final Score: Pirates 3 Tigers 0
Why The Pirates Won: Paul Skenes pitched another solid outing. He only gave up 3 hits and walked 1. He struck out 6, throwing only 86 pitches in 6 innings of work. I did not have a big problem with them taking him out. The season is over, and why put any stress on his workload? He has proven he can throw 100 pitches if necessary. Unless he is doing something spectacular, limiting him to about 90 pitches a game is fine. The bullpen did the job. Bednar needed a great play by Tommy Pham and an “at ’em” ball to keep it from being more interesting. After losing 3 straight to the last-place White Sox, they wound up beating the best team in the American League. The offense had one good inning, scoring 3 runs. Overall, they were as bad as usual. The Tigers threw 130 pitches in the game. The Pirates took 15 strikes, which is not bad. They swung at 22 pitches outside of the strike zone. None of those swings resulted in any of their nine hits. They were as punchless as ever, with all 9 hits being singles. This team needs to follow Ted Williams’ hitting rule. To hit, you swing at strikes and take balls. I don’t think they will ever learn. But hey, a win is a win. It was especially nice to see Skenes get the win. He is 5-8 now. He still has an excellent shot at being the first Cy Young Award winner with a losing record.
Key Moments Of The Game: It all boiled down to the bottom of the second and the top of the third. Ke’Bryan Hayes led off the bottom of the 2nd with a single. Jack (Who’s Ted Williams) Suwinski struck out on a ball around his ankles. Henry (I Don’t Know Him Either) Davis swung at the first pitch that was in the dirt. He did manage to fly out to deep center field. IKF walked on four straight pitches. Atta boy. Spenser Horwitz hit a little 68 MPH blooper down the line to score the first Pirate run. McCutchen walked on five pitches to load the bases. Bryan Reynolds hit an 81 MPH “liner”. It dropped in to score the last two runs. Those were the final runs the Pirates would score in the game. At the end of the 2nd, they led 3-0. The Tigers tried to break right back against Skenes. Parker Meadows opened the inning with a 102 MPH double down the right field line. Matt Vierling hit a dribbler down the 3rd base line and beat it out. It did not allow the runner to advance. Skenes bore down to get the next two batters. One popped out to shallow right. The next batter hit into a 3-6 force play. With runners on first and third, this brought up the always dangerous Gleyber Torres. Torres worked the count to 3-2. Skenes lit him up with an up-and-in 99 MPH fastball to end the inning. The Tigers never really threatened after that. The bottom of the 3rd was the key to a Pirate victory.
Next Game: Tonight, Tigers in Pittsburgh. Mitch Keller is going for the Pirates tonight. It was nice to see the pitching staff get back on track. We know the hitters are never going to do it. The pitching is the only strength of this team. It was disheartening to see them get knocked around by the lowly White Sox. I guess Peguero is never going to play. Why did they bring him up? There were plenty of other players they could have called up. Anybody can sit on the bench. You can easily see why player development is not a Pirate strong point.
The Goofy Game of Golf/Life Searching for the Answer 