Final Score: Pirates 0 Brewers 5
Why the Pirates Lost: In the last two games, the Pirates have struck out 33 times, including 18 times yesterday. They only got two hits and only put the ball in play 12 times for the entire game. They may have had the worst inning in the history of baseball, but I will get to that later. Carmen Mlodzinski had his typical outing—a nice, solid three innings—and then he fell apart, thanks to a catcher’s interference and control issues. The fourth inning was a disaster. The inning started with a single and a double. The Pirates were playing the middle of the infield back. A low line one-hopper to Nick Gonzales got an out as the Pirates conceded the run. No problem. Garrett Mitchell struck out for the second out. Things were looking good. The count was 1-2 on Sal Frelick when, on the fourth pitch, Joey Bart was called for catcher’s interference. This put runners on first and second with two outs. Mlodzinski then gave up a single, a double, and another single, and before you could say, “How do you spell Mlodzinski?” it was 5-0, and the game was essentially over. The Pirates ended the road trip 3-3, which is not too bad, but what could have been will always be there.
Key Moments Of The Game: The Pirates had 1st and 2nd with no outs in the top of the 7th but could not score or even advance the runners. Then came the unbelievable 8th inning. The Brewers brought in a pitcher by the name of Aaron Ashby. He threw 28 pitches, but only 5 of those pitches were in the strike zone. The bare minimum the Pirates should have achieved was 5 walks and a run in with nobody out. Konnor Griffin started the inning with a 4-pitch walk. That should have been the tip-off right there. Whatever happened to the take sign? They did load the bases thanks to a misplay by the Brewers; however, they struck out twice and grounded weakly to 2nd without scoring any runs. Billy Cook took a ball and a called strike. He then swung at two pitches that were in the dirt. Jake Mangum swung at a strike, then swung at two pitches below the knees. Nick Gonzales did not see one pitch in the strike zone but swung at two of them, and finally walked on a 3-2 count, which loaded the bases. They could have been loaded two batters ago. Bryan Reynolds fouled off a pitch that was in the strike zone. Then he saw 4 straight pitches that were not even close to the zone. He swung at the last two, hitting the last one weakly to second to mercifully end this pathetic Pirates showing at the plate. The Brewers did everything they could in the 7th and 8th to get the Pirates back into the game, but the Pirates said, “We really don’t care, it’s yours.” We just can’t stand seeing the defending division champs dipping below .500.
Next Game: Tonight, the Cardinals in Pittsburgh at 6:40 PM. The Pirates open a 7 game homestand against the Cardinals playing them 4 times. They play the Reds 3 games over the weekend. Hopefully the Pirates will find a way to put the ball in play. Despite the disappointment yesterday having a 3-3 road trip is acceptable. The Pirates need to win 5 of these next 7 games if they are going to move up in the division.
The Goofy Game of Golf/Life Searching for the Answer 