Tag: Gifts accepted

Final Score: Pirates 5 Giants 2

Why The Pirates Won: The Giants made sure they did, especially the pitching staff. The Pirates only got 5 hits but were walked 7 times and hit by a pitch once. Starting in the first inning after an opening single by Spencer Horwitz and a fly out by Brandon Lowe, the Pirates received 3 straight walks, and Jake Mangum got hit with a pitch to make the score 2-0. The bats went really silent for four innings, getting only one hit. In the bottom of the 6th, Oneil Cruz walked, stole 2nd, and scored when Mangum’s bunt was thrown away by the pitcher. One out later, an infield hit moved Mangum to third. He scored when Jared Triolo beat out a double play ball. He was ruled out, but replay overruled the call, and the Pirates had a 4-0 lead. In the bottom of the 8th, the Pirates got a leadoff walk and a single. They went small ball again with a sacrifice bunt and sacrifice fly to make the score 5-2. Not one run scored on a hit. The Pirates were 1 for 8 with runners in scoring position, leaving 8 men on base. They only got 5 hits, all singles. If you looked at those stats, you would have thought the Pirates lost. The Giants’ pitchers could not find the plate, and the Pirates were able to score those five runs. The bullpen game went well. The Pirates only gave up 2 hits, even though they walked 5 it was not as bad as the Giants. At this stage of the season, the Pirates will take wins any way they can. Hopefully, the Angels will be as generous.

Key Moment Of The Game: The Pirates took a 4-0 lead into the 7th inning. Khristian Curtis had pitched a solid 3 innings in relief. You could see he was laboring in his 4th inning of work. Maybe it was the heat, but he struggled mightily to get the ball over the plate, walking the first two batters in the inning on 11 pitches. He gave up a double, and the score was 4-1, with runners on second and third and no one out. His laboring was obvious to everyone, except Don (Looking At My Shoes) Kelly. He did not get Yohan Ramirez up in the bullpen until the end of the second walk. The Pirates went into major stall mode. It was after the double that Ramirez came in. He was able to get out of the jam with only one more run scoring. The A-team of Weaver and Montgomery shut the Giants down in the last two innings, not allowing a base runner.

Next Game: Tonight, Angels in Pittsburgh. Here is how the Pirates stand going into tonight’s game. They are 5 games out of the wild card, with the Diamondbacks holding down the last spot. They are 4.5 games behind the Padres, 2 games behind the Marlins and 1 game behind the Cardinals. Of these 5 teams the Pirates have the best record, which is not saying much, over the last 10 games at 6-4. Greg Brown would call them the red hot Pirates. More good news is that the Angels are worse than the Giants and have lost 9 out of their last 10. Konnor Griffin will be returning tonight. The Pirates do not have any room for error. Can they get a series sweep against the worst team in baseball? Stay tuned.