Pirate Morning Report: Inflexible Plan Leads To Defeat

Final Score: Pirates 2 Cardinals 4

Why the Pirates Lost: The Pirates had a bullpen game with a plan. Unfortunately, it was an inflexible plan. Mason Montgomery threw 7 pitches, Justin Lawrence threw 9 pitches, and the designated bulk guy Wilber Dotel threw 44 pitches. Isaac Mattson threw three pitches. The first three pitchers were highly effective, throwing a perfect game through 6 and 2/3 innings. The Pirates could have easily stretched out this game to the point where they probably would not have had to use Soto or Dennis Santana. The Pirates had a plan and stuck with it, no matter how ridiculous it was. Dotel is a starter, for God’s sake; he could have thrown at least 16 more pitches. Mattson and Montgomery could have thrown another inning. All of this stupidity led to having to use Dennis Santana in the 9th with no backup plan. He had one of his worst outings as a Pirate, and it led to a 4-run 9th inning. Another defeat that lands squarely on this bizarre management group. I honestly think they know nothing about baseball. Even though the offense got 8 hits and 2 walks, they could only manage 2 runs. They never really threatened to score more, getting only 5 men in scoring position. This defeat really stings.

Key Moments of the Game: Not letting Mason Montgomery come out for the 2nd inning. Not letting Wilber Dotel come out for the 7th inning. That was the big bonehead move. This kid was mowing them down. Thirty-two of the forty-four pitches he had thrown were for strikes. He was in command of the game. He could have easily thrown 15 to 20 more pitches. Mattson had thrown 3 pitches and could have come out for the 8th inning. When this debacle was over, the Pirate broadcast booth said that tomorrow would be tough with a worn-out bullpen. The bullpen is not worn out. Only Santana, Dotel, and maybe Soto cannot pitch tonight. In the 4-run 9th inning, the Cardinals did get a nice break when a little chopper went down the third base line and stopped on the foul line just short of 3rd base. The rest of the Cardinals’ hits were rockets: 2 home runs and a double. You can only mismanage a game for so long until it comes back to bite you.

Next game: Tonight, the Cardinals are in Pittsburgh at 6:40 PM. Bubba Chandler is going for the Pirates tonight, and it is time for him to step up and have a good start. The offense also needs to pick up the pace. This is the first time the Pirates have lost two in a row since the opening two games of the season. Hopefully, management may learn from their mistakes, but I doubt it. It’s not a good start to the homestand, but maybe this will wake the offense up a little bit. There is no question that the Pirates need to shake this one off. Can they do it?