Final Score: Pirates 4 Mets 3 in 10 innings
Why The Pirates Won: The bullpen did the job pitching the last 5 and 2/3 innings and not giving up an earned run. A couple of nice bounce-back performances by Mason Montgomery and Isaac Mattson. I will say this, Yohan Ramirez is making me eat a little early-season crow. He had his 2nd consecutive scoreless outing, going 1 and 2/3 innings this time. Mlodzinski had a decent outing, striking out 8 but threw 85 pitches in just 4 and 1/3 innings. The Pirates’ bats were not great again, leaving 12 on base and going 3 for 14 with runners in scoring position. They did just enough with their 7 hits and 8 walks to pull this one out. Brandon Lowe hit his 3rd home run. Ryan O’Hearn got 3 hits and drove in 2 runs.
Key Moments Of The Game: It all boiled down to the 10th inning. After O’Hearn drove in Reynolds from 2nd in the top of the 10th, Jared (Why Am I Batting Fifth) Triolo promptly grounded into a double play. The Mets helped the Pirates out by walking the next two batters. Wouldn’t you know it, Henry (I Can’t Believe It Myself) Davis laced a line drive into center field to drive in the deciding run of the game. The Pirates brought in Jose Urquidy to pitch the bottom of the 10th and did he ever make it interesting. He started by walking Francisco Lindor. Juan Soto lined a drive into the left-center field gap to the wall. Despite what the Pirates’ broadcast booth said, it was far from a perfect relay, but it got the job done. Triolo had to short-hop Cruz’s throw, and then his relay was up the third base line. Davis was able to get to home plate and tag Lindor right on the chin on a play that was not even close. Bo Bichette then grounded to short for the 2nd out, with Soto moving to third. Jorge Polanco took Urquidy’s first pitch and hit it deep to right field. Billy Cook made the catch with his back to the right field wall. The Pirates head to Cincinnati 1 and 2.
Next Game: Tonight, the Reds in Cincinnati at 7:40. Braxton Ashcraft will make his first start of the season. He will go up against Chase Burns, who has only thrown 43 major league innings. He is only 23 years old and made 8 starts last year. He is a right-handed thrower, so expect the opening day lineup. God knows where they might bat Triolo. In the first 3 games, he batted 6th, leadoff, and 5th. He should never bat higher than 8th. I don’t know why the Pirates think Triolo can hit; in the last 3 years, he has had 3 good months of hitting. The last 2 years, his OPS has been .611 and .667. What are the Pirates looking at when they bat him 5th? It was nice to see Davis come up with the big hit. Spencer Horwitz is 0 for 7 at the plate and looks bad doing it. Hope he will snap out of it soon. If they can take 2 out of 3 from the Reds, it will be a .500 road trip. I can’t wait to see where Triolo bats next.
The Goofy Game of Golf/Life Searching for the Answer 