Final Score: Pirates 4 Diamondbacks 2
Why The Pirates Won: Mitch Keller had another good outing. He went 6+ innings, giving up 2 runs on 4 hits, walking 2 while striking out 4. The bullpen did the job despite the fact that Don Kelly ignored reverse splits. The Pirates, for some reason, just don’t pay attention to reverse splits, and it almost cost them. The Pirates went long twice, with Brandon Lowe and Joey Bart each hitting solo home runs. Don’t look now, but Bart is hitting .220 with a .619 OPS. Nothing to write home about, but when compared to Davis, who is banging the ball around at a .156 clip with a .526 OPS, he looks like Babe Ruth. It may be time to give Bart more playing time since the offense is sputtering a bit. The Pirates came up with the big hits when needed. Everybody contributed to this win, either with offense or defense.
Key Moments Of The Game. The score was 2-1 Diamondbacks going into the 5th inning. Zack Gallen was cruising along the first 4 innings. He gave up the 1st inning homer but after that, he had given up one hit, one walk, and hit a batter. In the top of the 5th, he got 2 outs on 9 pitches. Brandon Lowe hit a 103 MPH line drive single to right. Bryan Reynolds walked on a 3-2 pitch. Both Ryan O’Hearn and Spencer Horwitz were able to sneak ground balls through the right side of the infield, each driving in a run, and suddenly the Pirates were up 3-2. Two out lightening at its best. Joey Bart hit a 2-out home run in the top of the 6th to give the Pirates a 2 run cushion. Two out lightening struck again. Things were going pretty smoothly for Keller until the bottom of the 7th. He gave up a leadoff single. Kelly took him out for Dennis Santana. No problem there. Santana immediately induced Jose Fernandez to hit into a double play. Of course, he walked the next batter. He got a ground out to end the inning. In the bottom of the 8th, Mason Montgomery came on. He got one out then he walked a batter. He got Ketel Marte to pop out. Up stepped Corbin Carroll. Carroll is hitting over .400 against lefties and under .200 against righties. For whatever reason, Kelly left Montgomery in the game. Carroll singled to left. Surprise! Surprise! Surprise! He did bring Isaac Mattson in to face Nolan Arenado. Mattson did the job by striking him out. He should have faced Carroll. Gregory Soto came in and pitched an uneventful ninth to pick up his 2nd save in as many days. The Pirates head to San Francisco 2-1 on the road trip.
Next Game: Tonight, Giants in San Francisco, 10:15. Carmen Mlodzinski goes for the Pirates tonight. Once again, the Pirates are not going to use an opener, even though it was Mlodzinski’s best performance when he pitched from the 2nd through the 7th innings. You have to wonder what’s wrong with them. He got hit hard in his last outing, giving up 5 runs in 5 and 2/3 innings. Of course, that was the game where the Pirates scored 17 runs. Will the Pirates be able to take advantage of the Giants, who have been struggling? They will be starting two of their weak links in the rotation in this series. The bats came a little alive last night; they may have to go into full throttle mode if the Pirates are going to take 2 of 3.
The Goofy Game of Golf/Life Searching for the Answer 