Final Score: Pirates 4 Brewers 5
Why The Pirates Lost: The Brewers have a manager. The Pirates do not. For the second series in a row, we saw a manager on a team that is going to make the playoffs making move after move after move when it came to the bullpen. Our manager sits on his hands talking to his incompetent pitching coach while a lead dissolves away with no one even warming up in the bullpen, let alone being brought into the game. The Pirate offense had a very strange game. They hit 3 home runs that accounted for all of the Pirate runs. You could say they had 3 runs on 4 hits. They collected 8 other hits and a walk but could not produce another run. In fact, they had only 2 other at-bats with runners in scoring position. Brandon Lowe’s 2-run homer came with Konnor Griffin on 2nd base. The Padres won last night, putting the Pirates 8 games behind them with 10 games to go. Elimination is on the horizon. All Pirate fans can only think of what might have been if the Pirate managerial staff knew what they were doing.
Key Moments of the Game: The Pirates gave away the lead in the top of the 7th in typical Pirate fashion. The Brewers scored 2 runs on 2 hits and 2 walks, and Carmen Mlodzinski was allowed to do all of this. The Pirates had no one warming up in the bullpen as the inning progressed. In fact, the Pirates let Mlodzinski come out for another inning; they were so pleased with his work. Christian Yelich got the big hit to make the score 5-4. Too bad he did not have to face a left-hander, as his batting average is 32 points lower against lefties. Do the Pirates even know what high leverage means? I do not think so. This was the spot that Mason Montgomery should have been put into the game. In the bottom of the 7th, the Pirates put runners on 1st and 2nd with one out. Of course, they had to earn their runners with two singles. Bryan Reynolds grounded into a double play. In the bottom of the 8th, an opening single was erased on a double play. Oh, by the way, during the two innings, there were two pitching changes made. This is how games are won, Don Kelly. They are not won by putting Billy Cook in to run with 2 outs in the bottom of the 8th.
Next Game: This afternoon, Brewers in Pittsburgh. The Brewers can win the season series with a win today. At least the game is in the afternoon and the evening won’t be ruin by the Pirates. The Pirates did break their home run mark for the season last night. This is what this team has always been about all year. Individual records and not trying to win ball games. Fortunately, this mess is coming to end soon.
The Goofy Game of Golf/Life Searching for the Answer 