Final Score: Pirates 6 Phillies 1
Why The Pirates Won: The quartet of Jared Jones, Carmen Mlodzinski, Gregory Soto, and Mason Montgomery held the Phillies to one run on 4 hits. They walked 2 (Jones) and struck out 10. Surprise, surprise, surprise, the Phillies did not hit a home run. The Pirate offense went 6 frustrating innings scoring only 1 run, despite having many opportunities to score more. Twice they had a runner on 3rd base with no one out and did not score. Once they had a runner on 3rd base with 1 out and did not score. With runners on first and second and no outs, Bryan Reynolds hit a ball off the wall in right field and no one scored. For the game, they left 12 men on base. When you win, all is forgiven but hopefully not forgotten. They finally started scoring in the 7th and 8th innings, getting 2 runs each. Nick Gonzales homered in the 9th for the 6th run. The pitching came through for once, and the Pirates managed a split with the Phillies.
Key Moments Of The Game: The score was tied 1-1 going into the top of the 7th. The Pirates looked like they were going to let this one get away with all the blown opportunities. Brandon Lowe singled to left to start the inning. Bryan Reynolds lined out to left field. Lowe tried to steal second and was ruled out. The call was overturned. Esmerlyn Valdez, who had driven in the only Pirate run, ripped a 113 MPH line drive that went all the way to the wall for a triple, scoring Lowe. Again, the Pirates could not get a runner home with fewer than two outs as Ryan O’Hearn struck out. Nick Gonzales saved the day with a 2-out 76 MPH line drive to center to score Valdez. Valdez showed them how to do it the next inning by hitting a sacrifice fly with one out to score the 5th Pirate run, capping off a 3 RBI day. Endy Rodriguez opened the inning with a home run. Soto and Montgomery mowed the Phillies down, with Soto only using 8 pitches, all strikes, and Montgomery striking out the side in the bottom of the 9th.
Next Game: Tonight, the Nationals in Washington D.C. The Pirates are in our nation’s capital for the big 250 years American celebration. My God, who thought that was a good idea? The Nationals are throwing left-hander Foster Griffin. He is tough on left-hand batters. Maybe Billy Cook will get his 2nd start. The Pirates are at .500; the Nationals are two games over. Each team needs to win at least one game of the series. The Nationals are the leading scoring team in the league. They are worse at preventing runs than even the Pirates. This would be the perfect time for the Pirate pitching to finally step up. They are coming off a dominant performance against the Phillies. Can they keep it up?
The Goofy Game of Golf/Life Searching for the Answer 