Final Score: Pirates 2 Cubs 3 in 10 innings
Why The Pirates Lost: Everyone contributed to this loss. The offense could not get runners in from 3rd with less than 2 outs. The manager made his usual horrible decisions. The bullpen gave away the deciding run. Only the starting pitching namely Jared Jones could hold its head up high. He went six innings giving up one run on 2 hits, walking 1 and striking out 5. He threw 83 pitches. Unfortunately one of the hits was a solo homer by Pete Crow-Armstrong. The Pirates had their chances but could only plate 1 run despite getting 8 hits and 3 walks in regulation.
Key Moments Of The Game: In the bottom of the 5th the Pirates opened the inning with 2 walks, a bunt single, and an infield single to plate 1 run. They had the bases loaded with nobody out and the top of the order up. Jake Magnum and Nick Gonzales both hit very short fly balls to the outfield that could not advance any runners. Bryan Reynolds struck out. Crow-Armstrong hit his homer the very next inning to quickly tie the game. In the bottom of the 7th the Pirates had runners on 1st and 3rd with one out. Gonzales hit a 266 foot fly ball to left. Ian Happ made a great throw to nail Henry Davis at the plate. Yohan Ramirez pitched the top of the 10th. He got 2 outs sandwiched between an infield single putting runners on 1st and 2nd. That’s when Ramirez started to lose control. Don Kelly paid no attention. He fell behind Dansby Swanson 2-0. He threw a fastball right down the middle and Swanson drilled it 105 MPH into center field to score the go ahead run on a bang-bang play at the plate that was not overturned. Ramirez then threw 2 straight balls to Crow-Armstrong that weren’t even close, eventually leading to an intentional walk. This is where Ramirez should have been taken out. Kelly sat on his hands. After all the game was only on the line. Ramirez walked Seiya Suzuki on 4 straight pitches with only one being remotely close to the strike zone, walking in the deciding run of the game.He had thrown 8 out of 9 pitches for balls. He should have never been allowed to that, hence, a 3-2 loss.
Next Game: Tonight Cubs in Pittsburgh. Paul Skenes goes for the Pirates tonight. He has won his last 3 starts and they all have been good but not dominant. The Pirates need to bounce back from that gift wrapped win they gave the Cubs last night. The offense has been held pretty much in check the last 2 games. This can happen to any offense. Hopefully they will snap out of it soon.
The Goofy Game of Golf/Life Searching for the Answer 