Final Score: Pirates 6 Giants 7 in 12 innings
Why the Pirates Lost: A bullpen that is in complete disarray gave up two 2-run leads. The Pirates were leading 4-2 going into the bottom of the 6th inning. Isaac Mattson came in and quickly got knocked around, giving up 3 doubles wrapped around one out. The Giants tied the game 4-4. The Pirates scored 2 runs in the top of the 10th to take a 6-4 lead. Yohan Ramirez, with the ghost runner on 2nd base, struck out the first batter in the bottom of the 10th. He walked Rafael Devers to put runners on 1st and 2nd. Heliot Ramos hit a slow roller to short, and Konnor Griffin made a nice play to throw him out. This moved the runners up to 2nd and 3rd. Willy Adames wasted no time, hitting the first pitch into left field to drive in 2 runs to tie the game. The bullpen continues to blow games. The tale of the tape: Ramirez ERA 4.13, Mattson ERA 4.67, Dennis Santana ERA 3.63, Justin Lawrence ERA 6.46, Cam Sanders ERA 10.80. This was a game of disasters for the Pirates, with disastrous baserunning to go along with disastrous hitting. The Pirates were 2 for 15 with runners in scoring position and left 13 men on base. The Pirates finish the road trip 3-3, but this still does not take the sting out of this loss. They gave another game away, plain and simple.
Key Moments Of The Game: Ryan Borucki got his revenge after being roughed up in the previous game. Yesterday, he entered the 11th inning with runners on 1st and 3rd and no outs. He struck out Oneil Cruz and then got Brandon Lowe to hit a soft liner to short while Henry Davis attempted to steal second. This resulted in an easy double play for the Giants. The reason Davis was running, only the Pirate “brain” trust would know. In the 12th inning, Borucki danced through the raindrops, finally loading the bases but managed to get Konnor Griffin to hit a soft liner to Matt Chapman, ending the inning. The Giants won in the 12th, sending the Pirates home defeated and securing the victory for Borucki.
Next game: Tuesday night, Rockies in Pittsburgh. The morning report will be late morning and early afternoon as I am headed to San Diego to watch a real franchise, the Padres. Paul Skenes will pitch for the Pirates on Tuesday, hoping to get the homestand off to a good start. The Pirates will play three games against the Rockies, and then the Phillies come in for the weekend. The Pirates just can’t seem to get on a roll. The bullpen is in trouble unless these guys start to pitch a lot better. There does not seem to be much help, but it would be nice to see Dotel come back up. Maybe the team will break out this week.
The Goofy Game of Golf/Life Searching for the Answer 