Final Score: Pirates 2 Blue Jays 5
Why the Pirates Lost: Paul Skenes put together his second straight mediocre start. He went five-plus innings, giving up a whopping nine hits, including a leadoff home run to start the game and four doubles. He struck out just two batters and was charged with four runs, raising his ERA to 3.00. Just two starts ago, it was below 2. The offense did not do much better, getting only five hits and two walks to score two runs. For the second straight game, they failed to get a hit with runners in scoring position, going 0 for 6. They struck out 12 times. Oneil Cruz did not start but had two plate appearances. He struck out both times on eight pitches and made contact with the ball once, fouling off a pitch. He seems as disinterested as a player could get. It is obvious that the Pirates need some serious bullpen help. Maybe it is time the Pirates moved Cruz to get some. The Pirates are 2-3 on the road trip and 26-26 overall. Every time they have been at .500, they win to keep from going under. I am not so sure they will do that today.
Key Moments of the Game: After Paul Skenes gave up the leadoff home run to George Springer, he settled down and pitched a solid 5 innings. He gave up 4 hits and walked one batter with no runs scoring. In the top of the 6th inning, the Pirates got some two-out lightning when Bryan Reynolds singled and Marcell (DH Extraordinaire) Ozuna doubled to score Reynolds. This tied the game at 1-1. This was the time Skenes needed to shut down the Blue Jays to maintain what little momentum the Pirates had. He could not even get an out. Before you could say that Paul Skenes is human, the Blue Jays had 4 straight hits and took a 3-1 lead. Skenes was gone, and the Pirates had lost their 2nd straight game to the Blue Jays.
Next game: At noon, Blue Jays in Toronto. The game is on Peacock today in something called the early bird special or some other ridiculous thing. The Pirates will try to have a .500 road trip and avoid dropping below .500 for the first time since the opening of the season. This team is certainly in a funk right now. Yes, the bullpen has been really bad, but the offense has been about as inconsistent as it can be. The Pirates continue to put out some horrible lineups and batting orders. This has finally caught up with them. A win today would help as they head home to face the Cubs for four games and the Twins for three. As usual, management has done nothing to help this team so far. If this team stays the same personnel-wise for the next four weeks, a very talented team may have been mismanaged into a last-place club. Thank you, Don Kelly and Ben Cherington.
The Goofy Game of Golf/Life Searching for the Answer 