Final Score: Pirates 1 Padres 0
Why The Pirates Won: Paul Skenes had his best start in 3 months. He went 6 innings giving up only 3 hits and not walking a batter. He did have several 3-1 counts but was able to come back and record outs. They were all lead off hits, but Skenes never buckled recording 3 straight outs in every inning. He did not have his strike out pitch working, getting just 4 K’s, but overall, this was a solid performance. The bullpen came through for the last 3 innings not giving up a hit and walking 2.
The Key Moment Of The Game: The game was scoreless going into the 9th inning. The Padres decided to bring in Mason Miller to pitch the 9th. I was a little surprised since he had thrown 30 pitches the night before. The first two Pirates went down in 7 pitches. His velocity seemed fine. Oneil Cruz was the next batter. He took a 101 MPH fast ball for a strike that barely caught the top of the zone. Miller threw some kind of off speed pitch that was neither that off speed (98 MPH) or had a lot of movement. It came in at 98 MPH low and inside, and left Cruz’s bat at 111 MPH on a low line. But it was just high enough to fly into the seats for the first home run Miller has given up in over a year. Thank goodness there is not a Gwynn wall in San Diego. The Pirates’ Mason, Mason Montgomery, pitched the bottom of the 9th getting a pop out and a strike out to record 2 outs. Then he walked the next batter who stole second. He was able to strike out Jackson Merrill to win the game and the battle of the Masons.
Next Game: This afternoon, Padres in San Diego. The Pirates have a chance for the must sweep against the Padres. It will simply mean that they will either leave San Diego 5.5 games or 7.5 games out of the wild card. With just 28 games remaining in the season that would be huge. Stay Tuned.
The Goofy Game of Golf/Life Searching for the Answer 