Final Score: Pirates 5 Cardinals 10
Why the Pirates Lost: The pitching just fell apart in this series. In the last 28 innings, the Pirates’ pitching staff has given up 30 runs. They allowed 38 hits and 16 walks. This was supposed to be the strength of this team. Hopefully, this is a glitch and nothing more. The walks have been a season-long problem; they are 7th in the league in giving up the most walks. The hitting has not been great, but it has been good enough to have won at least 2 games in the series. Although Paul Skenes did strike out 9 batters, he did not have a pitch touch 98 MPH; he had some that were very close. Hopefully, this was due to the cold weather. For his 5 innings of work, he gave up 5 runs on 8 hits. He gave up no walks and threw 102 pitches. The Pirates tried to come back and made the score 5-4 going into the top of the 8th. Isaac Mattson came in and gave up 5 runs, although 3 scored after he was pulled from the game. Chris Devenski came in with the bases loaded and allowed 2 singles that enabled the Reds to break the game open at 10-4. Why he came into the game when he had pitched yesterday and not Gregory Soto, who had not pitched since Monday, only the Pirates know for sure. I guess it goes back to that philosophy that if the Pirates are down 2 or more runs, they are not coming back, so save the good relievers. The Pirates are 16-16 now, firmly entrenched in last place.
Key Moments Of The Game: It was the very first inning. With Skenes on the mound, you thought that this was the stopper of the four-game losing streak. You barely sat down on those cold seats when the Cardinals hit a home run, followed by an infield single, a strikeout, and another home run. Before you could say, “It looks like we are going to lose five in a row,” it was 3-0 Cardinals. The Cardinals touched up Skenes for two more runs over five innings. The Pirates did come back to trail just 5-4 after seven innings. Then came the disastrous eighth inning, highlighted by Bryan Reynolds losing a ball in the lights, Oneil Cruz not knowing what to do with the ball, allowing the second run of the inning to score, two walks to load the bases, and then bringing in 35-year-old Chris Devenski to ensure the Cardinals would break open the game.
Next Game: Tonight, the Reds are in Pittsburgh at 6:45. A five-minute later start because the game is on Apple TV. Apple said they needed the extra five minutes to try and explain the Pirates’ thinking. Playing 13 games in 13 days is too much for the Pirates’ management team. There is one thing we know for sure: Gregory Soto is available tonight. He has not pitched since Monday. The Pirates look to snap their five-game losing streak against the first-place Reds. As crazy as sports are, they probably will. Mitch Keller takes the hill for the Pirates. The Reds show how mismanaged the Pirates are. The Reds are in first place, and the Pirates are in last place. The Pirates have scored more runs, have a higher on-base percentage, and a lower ERA than the Reds. They trail the Reds by 4.5 games. Do you think we need a new manager?
The Goofy Game of Golf/Life Searching for the Answer 