Tag: Getting swept

Final Score: Pirates 2 Braves 3

Why The Pirates Lost: Bubba Chandler pitched 5 and 1/3 innings of great ball only to be ruined by his old problem of not being able to throw the ball over the plate. After a questionable error was charged to Tyler Callihan, Chandler struck out Austin Riley on 3 pitches. Then he just seemed to lose it. Eight straight balls later, the bases were loaded. This is where Don Kelly lost the game. The bases are loaded. You are ahead by two runs in the bottom of the 7th. This is about as high-leverage as you can get. Who does he bring in? Mr. Low Leverage, Evan Sisk. Gregory Soto or Wilber Dotel should have been brought in. It is tough to do that when you don’t have anybody warming up at the start of the inning or even after the error. Michael Harris hits right and left-handed pitching about the same. Either pitcher could have been used. Harris hit the big double on Sisk’s second pitch, a 90 MPH sinker right down the middle, to clear the bases and give the Braves a 3-2 lead. Spencer Horwitz hit an opening home run for the first Pirate run. Nick Gonzales hit into a double play with the bases loaded for the second run that Matt Capps called a productive out. REALLY? By the way, dunce Capps, you should have used the plural, outs. The Pirates could only get 5 hits for the entire game, and two of those did not leave the infield. Atlanta shut down this offense for the 3rd day in a row.

Key Moments Of The Game: Even though Don Kelly went brain dead in the 7th, the Pirates had their chances to tie the game in the 8th and 9th. The Pirates put runners on 1st and 2nd with one out in the top of the 8th. Endy Rodriguez singled, and Horwitz walked. Nick Gonzales hit a weak blooper to the shortstop. Bryan Reynolds walked to load the bases. Ryan O’Hearn worked the count to 3 and 2. He took an up and away slider and rolled it over, grounding out to 1st. In the top of the 9th, Brandon Lowe led off with a double. This is where the Pirate batters went into Bubba mode and totally lost control of the strike zone. Tyler Callihan struck out on 3 pitches, two of which were out of the strike zone. Jake Mangum swung at 4 balls out of the strike zone but managed to hit a chopper over the head of the pitcher, putting runners on 1st and 3rd with one out. Jared (I Wish I Could Hit) Triolo didn’t swing at anything outside the strike zone but popped up a ball that was right down the middle. Endy Rodriguez struck out to end the game on a pitch that almost hit him. The Pirates end the road trip 2-4. Not a disaster, but the blown game in Houston really stands out now. Back home to face the big bad Dodgers.

Next Game: Tomorrow night, Dodgers in Pittsburgh. The Pirates did receive good news about Brandon Lowe yesterday, and even he had a pinch-hit double. Hopefully, Konnor Griffin can return soon to get Triolo off the field. The Pirates brought up somebody yesterday by the name of Davis Wendzel. He has had 47 at-bats in his career and has a slash line of .128/.163/.234. His minor league stats are better, but I still think they brought him up just to make Henry Davis feel better. He won’t be the worst hitter on the team, let alone in all of baseball. You have to feel that the Pirates have to take 2 of 3 from the Dodgers to get back on track. Despite all of this, the Pirates are only 0.5 games out of the wild card.