Final Score: Pirates 4 Cubs 8
Why The Pirates Lost: The Cubs swept the series from the Pirates. The game may have set baseball back 100 years. The first two innings took over an hour to play. Both pitchers were having many problems. In the first 2 innings, the Cubs sent 13 men to the plate. They scored 4 runs on 4 hits, 3 walks, and one hit batter. The Pirates sent 15 men to the plate. They scored 4 runs on 6 hits, 2 walks, and one hit batter. The entire game miraculously took “only” 3 hours and 17 minutes to complete. If they had kept up the pace of the first two innings, it would have taken 4 and 1/2 hours to finish the game. It was amazing that Johan Oviedo was able to go 5 innings after that start. He threw 99 pitches to do it. Matthew Boyd could only go 3 innings, throwing 83 pitches. The Cub bullpen pitched the last 6 innings, giving up 0 runs on 3 hits and one walk. After the 2nd inning, the game settled down with neither team scoring a run the next 3 innings. The AAA boys were 3 for 10 with 4 strikeouts. At one time in this game, the Pirates trailed 4-0. They scored 3 in the first and one in the second to tie the game. It looked like they might pull this game out. Then came the dreaded 6th inning.
Key Moments Of The Game: Yohan Ramirez came in to pitch the 6th. Dansby Swanson hit a soft line drive right back at Ramirez. He gloved it, then dropped it, fumbled it, fell down, and tried to throw the ball from his knees. New first basemen Rafael Flores could not make the pick and Swanson was on base. Error Ramirez. He got the next batter to fly out. Then things got even more bizarre. On a 3-1 count Swanson took off for 2nd. In a nutshell the pitch was called a ball even though it was strike. Bart threw the ball into centerfield allowing Swanson to go to third. Bart did not need to make throw. I can’t blame him too much for that one. He had to think that was strike 2 instead of ball 4. He must have known subconsciously because the throw was terrible about 15 feet right of 2nd base. Michael Busch hit a sacrifice fly to right field to give the Cubs a 5-4 lead. This left a runner on first with 2 outs. Nico Hoerner singled putting runners on 1st and 2nd. Kelly decides to bring in Evan Sisk to face switch hitting Ian Happ. Sisk’s 2nd pitch was ripped up the middle 101 MPH for a single giving the Cubs a 6-4 lead. Justin Turner took a high outside fastball to right field for a single and the Cubs led 7-4. You knew this game was over. The Cubs added another run in the 8th to win going away. The Pirates never threatened as they continued their late summer swoon.
Next Game: Tomorrow night, the A’s in Pittsburgh. What a way to finish the home schedule. The Pirates are playing a Major League team with no home, while Pittsburgh is without a Major League-quality team. I know their Vegas move is a done deal, but I don’t think the Pittsburgh A’s sound all that bad. We can only dream.
The Goofy Game of Golf/Life Searching for the Answer 