Final Score: Pirates 7 Cardinals 0
Why The Pirates Won: The Pirate pitching staff woke up last night and shut out the Cardinals. It is not to say that there was not a hairy moment or two but shut them out they did. The offense pounded out 15 hits and scored 7 runs, which was more than enough. The last 4 batters in the lineup, Konnor Griffin, Endy Rodríguez, Jhostynxon Garcia, and Jake Mangum, put together an impressive game. As a group, they went 10 for 18 with 2 walks, scored 5 runs, and had 2 RBIs. I wonder if they will get to play again. Carmen Mlodzinski pitched an odd, inefficient but effective 5 innings. He gave up 0 runs on 4 hits, walking 1 and striking out 1, while throwing 95 pitches. Then came the wild 6th inning.
Key Moments of the Game: The Pirates scored a run in the top of the 6th to make the score 3-0. Up to that point, the Pirates had missed some opportunities to score more runs. Yohan (Why Didn’t I Get Sent Down) Ramirez was elected to start the bottom of the 6th. He got the first batter to ground out. Alec Burleson singled to right. Ramirez then hit Jordan Walker. He was efficient at least, taking only 3 pitches to put runners on 1st and 2nd. He walked Nolan Gorman on 8 pitches, with only 2 actually finding the strike zone, to load the bases. He fell behind Masyn Winn 3 and 0. I thought the bullpen was about to blow another one. Somehow, he managed to throw 3 balls in the strike zone. Winn took one, fouled one, and missed one to strike out. Cesar Prieto swung at a very high fastball and lined it deep to right field. Jake Mangum made a twisting, turning catch on the ball right at the wall, or the game would have been tied. The bullpen did not give up a hit after that, and the Pirates broke it open in the 8th to win going away.
Next Game: This afternoon, the Cardinals, in St. Louis. Braxton Ashcraft will take the mound for the Pirates as they try for the series win on the road. Other than the shaky sixth inning and leaving 11 men on base, it was a solid win for the Pirates last night. Garcia, who from this point on will be referred to as The Password, seems to be an all-around good player. His first name sends spell check into a frenzy, and I am afraid it may blow up my computer. The Pirates will probably follow that silly rule of not letting a catcher play when a day game follows a night game. We most likely will see Henry Davis in the lineup today. There could be other strange day time lineup moves. It could cost us the series.
The Goofy Game of Golf/Life Searching for the Answer 