Final Score: Pirates 0 Padres 4
Why The Pirates Lost: Let’s just go in chronological order. Another lousy lineup. Young players wasting on the bench. Andrew Heaney getting racked up for 4 runs on 8 hits. He walked 4 and struck out 3. He threw 100 pitches. He did all of this in just 3 and 2/3 innings of work. The offense was even more inept. They could not score a run despite getting 8 hits and walking twice. Striking out 12 times does not help. Cruz had a horrible game. In the 2nd inning, Ke’Bryan Hayes got picked off 2nd base for the last out of the inning. In the bottom of the 6th, they had 2nd and 3rd with one out and could not score. In the bottom of the 7th, Matt Gorski hit a triple with one out. Jared (I Don’t Really Understand Baseball) Jones hit a ball in the only place that would not score a run. He hit it to third base, and Machado threw out Gorski at the plate. Mercifully, Andrew McCutchen struck out to end the game. If he would have gotten on base, we would have seen Alexander Canario with a batting average of .132 pinch-hitting for Henry Davis with an average of .143. Why I would not know. I guess Shelton’s brain was on fire. In the last 21 innings against the Padres, the Pirates scored 1 run. They achieved this on 14 hits, 10 walks, and one hit batter. This may be the worst performing team the Pirates have had this century.
Key Moments Of The Game: Heaney had given up only one run in the first inning despite loading the bases. In the top of the 2nd, Elias Diaz hit a solo home run to start the inning. Brandon Lockridge doubled. Fernando Tatis popped out. Luis Arraez hit a soft line drive that just made it past the infield grass. Triolo did not know how to field it properly. Once he finally got the ball on one hop, he did not know what to do with it. By the time he threw to first, Arraez was safe. It was the key play of the game. Manny Machado struck out. This would have been the third out if Triolo understood baseball. This allowed Xander Bogaerts to double in the 3rd and 4th runs of the game. You knew that this lineup was not going to score 4 runs. The second inning was not over and the game was over. The Padres coasted the rest of the way, just trying to avoid injury. It was an easy series sweep for them. One of the Padres players was overheard saying, “Man, we thought the Rockies were bad, but this is unbelievable.”
Next Game: Tonight Cardinals in St. Louis. I have seen worse Pirate teams in my lifetime, but none that are this lackadaisical or so unfundamentally sound. Their performance on the field is marked by an alarming number of baserunning blunders, leaving fans shaking their heads in disbelief. They throw the ball everywhere but where they should, resulting in countless mental and physical errors. To make matters worse, they have no knowledge of the strike zone. They swing wildly at pitches that are clearly out of reach. They can’t score even when a team is conceding them a run, showcasing a baffling inability to capitalize on scoring opportunities. Management can’t even create a legitimate 5-man starting. They are the third-worst team in baseball. The White Sox are gaining ground. This only amplifies the Pirates’ incompetence. I was pessimistic when the season started, but I did not see them being this bad. They seem to be doing nothing to right the ship, maintaining a level of mediocrity that is hard to comprehend. At least Tommy Pham has reset. I don’t even know what that means, but I’m happy for him. This season is a disgrace to baseball. The franchise with so much potential is at the bottom of a pit that they may never get out.
The Goofy Game of Golf/Life Searching for the Answer 