Final Score: Pirates 3 Braves 6
Why The Pirates Lost: Mitch Keller had his 2nd straight horrific start. In the last 8 and 2/3 innings, Keller has given up 13 earned runs on 17 hits and 4 walks. In this game, he walked 3, and 2 of them came around to score. The Braves’ starter, Martin Perez, went 5 innings and gave up 3 runs on 3 hits, walking 2. The Braves’ bullpen then took over. In the last 4 innings, they held the Pirates to 1 hit and a walk. The last 3 relievers the Braves put out there had ERAs of 1.21, 0.63, and 0.92. The Pirate bullpen did not give up a run either, but they have a tendency to do that when there is no lead to protect. The last 2 Pirate relievers had ERAs of 5.26 and 3.97. You can see why the Pirates are now 9 games behind the Atlanta Braves.
Key Moments Of The Game: The Pirates picked up their 3 runs in the top of the third, highlighted by a big 2-out single by Marcell Ozuna to take a 3-1 lead at the time. In the bottom of the 3rd, Keller got the first out of the inning. He walked Ozzie Albies on 5 pitches, with the 4 balls not even close. This brought up Mauricio Dubon. Keller was ahead in the count, 1 ball and 2 strikes. Dubon chased pitches 4 and 5 well out of the strike zone to foul them off. He then threw a curveball right down the middle of the plate. RIGHT DOWN THE MIDDLE. Naturally, Dubon crushed it into the left field seats, 405 feet, to tie the game. Did he not notice that this guy was chasing badly? Apparently not. All the momentum the Pirates had just evaporated. In the bottom of the 5th, the Braves were hitting rockets off Keller, but manager Don Kelly did not care. 108, 105, 98, 97, 92, and finally 100 miles per hour. All were either doubles or singles, with the exception of the 98 MPH flyout and the 92 MPH sacrifice fly. He was allowed to face 6 batters, getting only 2 outs. Why he was not taken out after the second single, I will never know. He had not pitched well for the first 4 innings, but the shellacking he took in the fifth must have surprised Don Kelly. By the time the Pirates got someone ready in the bullpen it was too late. The Braves bullpen went into shutdown mode, and the Pirates did not get a runner on base until the top of the 9th. The Pirates start out 0-1 against the elite.
Next Game: This afternoon, the Braves, in Atlanta. Braxton Ashcraft will go for the Pirates. Maybe he will be able to shut down the potent Braves offense. Will the Pirate offense be able to overcome the Braves bullpen? Marcell Ozuna had a decent game last night. It is time for the Pirates to give him one last chance. Play him for the next eight games. If he turns it around and actually gets hot, it will be worth it. If not, it is time to eat the rest of his contract. The Pirates need to win at least one of these next two games, and right now, it does not look good.
The Goofy Game of Golf/Life Searching for the Answer 