Final Score: Pirates 2 Red Sox 5
Why The Pirate Lost: Mitch Keller has had his ups and downs this season, especially in the 2nd half. One thing has been consistent: Keller pitches badly, he loses. Keller pitches great, he loses. The only negative thing you could say about his outing yesterday was he was not efficient. It took him 90 pitches to get through 5 innings. He gave up no earned runs on 4 hits. He struck out 7 and walked one. He hit a batter that proved costly. As unusual, he deserved a better fate, like being traded at the trade deadline. Instead he lost his 13th game of the season. He got no offensive support. The Pirates struck out 12 times. They had only 6 hits. Their first run was a total gift. They got 3 walks and a wild pitch to score. The AAA boys had an ok day. They went 2 for 12, with Alexander Canario hitting a home run in the 7th for the Pirates’ 2nd run. Henry Davis, while the Pirates’ broadcast was singing his praises, had a particularly bad game. He led off the 3rd by striking out. He swung at one ball chin high. He struck out on a pitch that was a foot low and outside. His next at-bat, he came up with runners on 2nd and 3rd and 2 outs. He grounded out on a ball that was 2 feet outside to end the inning. It was smoked at 68 MPH. In his last at-bat, he struck out. This time he did not mess around. He swung at all 3 pitches that were not in the strike zone. He did manage not to swing at a ball that was in the dirt. After the game, he said something was in his eye or he would have swung. He thinks it is important to speed up the game. It was another lackluster performance by the Pirates in another game where they could have made a statement. I guess you could say they did.
Key Moment Of The Game: The Pirates had just gotten their gift run in the top of the 5th. In the bottom of the inning, everything went wrong. It opened with a Nick Gonzales throwing error. Keller did get the next batter to fly out. Then Carlos Narvaez hit an 83 MPH soft liner that bounced in the stands for a double. The next batter grounded out to score the run. Keller hit Alex Bregman, putting runners on 1st and 3rd with 2 outs. Jarren Duran hit a 103 MPH so-called inside the park home run, making the score 4-1. Alexander Canario got an extremely late jump on the ball. He was probably thinking, “Will I ever hit another home run?” instead of paying attention to what was going on in the game. Then Oneil Cruz let the ball go right between his legs when it bounced off the wall. It was quite a joint effort by those two to allow the speedy Duran to circle the bases. Canario answered his own question by hitting a home run in his next at-bat. The Pirates threatened in the 8th. Canario struck out this time. He swung at a pitch that was in the dirt to end the inning.
Next game: Tomorrow, the Dodgers in Pittsburgh. Despite this last game that you knew was going to happen, the Pirates were 4-3 on the road trip. They did much better than I thought they would. They need to go at least 2-4 to win 6 of these 13 games. They do play better at home. Can they avoid the 0-6 disaster against the 2 best teams in the National League? Thank God they have a day of rest before the home stand. Bryan Reynolds even has two days’ rest. His decrepit 30 year old body will be ready to go come Tuesday.
The Goofy Game of Golf/Life Searching for the Answer 