Final Score: Game 1: Pirates 5 Yankees 3 in 10 innings
Final Score Game 2: Pirates 0 Yankees 2
Why The Pirates Won One And Lost One: Both starting pitchers were taken out of the game too early. In the first game, Mitch Keller had thrown only 75 pitches through 5 innings. He had not allowed the Yankees to score, giving up only 3 hits and walking 2. In game 2, Bubba Chandler was doing even better through 6 and 1/3 innings, giving up 0 runs on 2 hits and 1 walk. He had thrown only 84 pitches. Here is the thing: Both of these pitchers, when they have struggled, have thrown as many as 95 to 100 pitches through as little as 4 or 5 innings. So why is it not okay for them to throw that many pitches AT LEAST when they are mowing the opposition down? Taking Keller out almost cost them game 1. Taking Chandler out in game 2 definitely cost them at least extending game 2 into extra innings. Not only did they take Chandler out in the 7th inning, but replaced him with one of their two worst relievers, the lousy left-hander Brandon Eisert. He immediately gave up 2 runs in 2/3 of an inning, sending his sparkling ERA to 6.68. There were other options out there. In game 2, the Pirates’ bats were silenced to the tune of no runs on just 3 hits and 3 walks. The fact the offense was shut out made the awful decision just a little more tolerable, but just barely. The road trip ended with a 3-3 record, knowing that the Pirates really gave away 2 of those games. With the proper managing, they could have been 5-1.
Key Moments Of The Games: In game one, Gerrit Cole did not allow a baserunner for the first 4 and 1/3 innings. Nick Gonzales broke that up with a single, and Jacob Gonzalez followed with a line drive home run to give the Pirates a 2-0 lead. Greg Brown, earlier in the broadcast, wanted everyone to know that the two were not related. No kidding, Brown; they spell their names differently. In the top of the 10th, Jared Triolo and Jake Mangum put two singles together to drive in two runs, giving the Pirates a 5-3 lead. Lowe walked to load the bases with just one out. Bryan Reynolds and Esmerlyn Valdez both struck out, and you thought that would come back to haunt the Pirates. Gregory Soto pitched a solid 9th to preserve the lead, and the Pirates won game 1. In game two, before the 7th inning debacle where the Yankees scored 2 runs, the Pirates had a chance in the top of the inning to take the lead themselves. Jared Triolo opened the inning with a single. Bryan Reynolds struck out on a 3-2 pitch; Triolo stole 2nd and went to 3rd on the errant throw. Valdez walked, putting runners on 1st and 3rd with one out. Ryan O’Hearn, who had a bad day going 0 for 8 with 5 strikeouts, was up next, followed by Marcell Ozuna. Both had horrible at-bats. O’Hearn struck out, swinging at a ball out of the zone for strike 2. Ozuna was even worse. He took two called strikes, fouled one off that was in the strike zone, and swung and missed a ball that was a foot outside to strike out. In the top of the 9th, they had a mild threat going, putting runners on 1st and 2nd with two outs. Of course, O’Hearn made the last out of the game on a bang-bang play at first base that was upheld on replay. When it is not your day, it is not your day.
Next Game: Friday night, Cubs in Pittsburgh. You can call this the wild card home stand. The Cubs are 4.5 games ahead of the Pirates for the Wild Card. The Diamondbacks are .5 games ahead of the Pirates. If there ever was a time for the Pirates to win 6 in a row or at least 5 of 6 this is it. They have to do at least better than 3-3 on this homestand. Playing .500 ball at home against your main wild card competition is simply not good enough. Even though the road trip could have been better being .500 against the Guardians and the Yankees on the road is acceptable. Can this team finally do something that makes it seem that they can really make the playoffs. Stay tuned.
The Goofy Game of Golf/Life Searching for the Answer 