Final Score: Pirates 0 Reds 2
Why The Pirates Lost: The Pirates scored 0 runs, and the usual suspects were present. Henry Davis went 0 for 3 with 3 strikeouts. He faced 15 pitches and only made contact with the ball twice. Jared Triolo, hitting 6th, went 0 for 4 with two strikeouts, bringing his average down to an explosive .118. Hopefully, he will be batting cleanup tonight. Oneil Cruz went 0 for 4 with 2 strikeouts. I am sure he will continue to leadoff with his splendid .143 average. Ryan O’Hearn and Brandon Lowe continued to do well. O’Hearn went 1 for 2 with 2 walks. Lowe did exactly the same. It makes you wish they had traded the whole team. Manager Don Kelley pretty much sat on his hands most of the night. There were times when he could have pinch-hit for Davis or Triolo in some big situations and decided not to. It was also revealed today that the Pirates are one of the worst teams in baseball in utilizing the new ABS challenge system. Man, is that a shocker. It makes you wonder what they did all spring training. The pitching was good but not good enough. Braxton Ashcraft pitched well, giving up 2 runs on 4 hits. He did walk 4 and struck out 3 in 6 innings of work. The bullpen pitched 2 scoreless innings.
Key Moment Of The Game: The Reds tried to give the game to the Pirates but to no avail. They brought in an inexperienced pitcher, Connor Phillip, to try and close the game out. Marcel Ozuna walked on 4 straight pitches. Ryan O’Hearn would have done the same thing if he had used the challenge system. He eventually walked, but it took 8 pitches instead of 4. Jared Triolo came to the plate. He must have been sleeping in the dugout and on-deck circle. Here is a pitcher who technically has not thrown a strike for 12 pitches. Triolo swung at the first pitch that was over a foot outside. He swung and missed again, but at least this was in the strike zone. Then he took a called third strike to complete a perfect Pirate at-bat. Spencer Horwitz then flew out to left field. He had gotten his first hit of the season, looking a little better at the plate. Nick Gonzales hit a little blooper over the second baseman’s head, but Matt McLain made a nice running catch while avoiding a serious collision in the outfield to end the game.
Next Game: Tonight, 6:40, the Reds in Cincinnati. Bubba Chandler takes the hill tonight for the Pirates. Lefty Brandon Williamson will be going for the Reds. We might see Cruz in the lineup tonight because he did get a hit off a lefty the other day. I suspect we will see Jake Mangum in the lineup. I am sure they will move Triolo up to 5th or lead him off; he has been doing so well. This is essentially the third game in a row that the Pirate bats have done very little. Hopefully, things will begin to pick up, but it may not until some replacements are called up from AAA. By then, it may be too late. By the way do you think Konner Griffin would have done worse than Jared Triolo so far?
The Goofy Game of Golf/Life Searching for the Answer 