Final Score: Pirates 1 Cubs 3
Why The Pirates Lost: Another awful performance by the Pirate offense. They were passive, taking 19 strikes including 6 in the top of the 9th. They got 5 hits for the game, pathetic. They were 0 for 4 with runners in scoring position, putrid. It was about as Triple P as you could get. It did not bring back any memories of the 1966 Pirates, who had a team batting average of .278. Remember, pitchers had to bat in those days. Nobody on the Pirates has a batting average as high as .278. Let that one sink in for a moment. The mound had not been lowered yet, either. The AAA boys went 2 for 7 with 2 strikeouts and no walks. Triolo got the 2 hits as his batting average climbed to .193. All of this wasted another good performance by the Pirate pitching staff. Starter Mike Burrows only threw 68 pitches in 5 innings. He gave up 1 run on 5 hits. He struck out 4 and walked 2. Why he did not come out for the 6th inning, I will never know. The bullpen was shaky. It caught up with them in the bottom of the 8th. They gave up the 2 runs. All in all, just another horrible offensive day for the Pirates that caused their 6th loss in 7 games.
Key Moment Of The Game: The Pirates looked like they might get some two-out lightning in the top of the 7th. Joey Bart walked. Liover Peguero singled, moving Bart to third. This brought up Alexander Canario. He has not gotten a hit for over a month. Even though the lefty was still in there, the situation screamed for a pinch hitter. Don Kelly did not do it. Canario had his usual horrid at-bat. He struck out on 5 pitches. In the bottom of the 8th, Evan Sisk came in. In 5 pitches and a stolen base, the Cubs took the lead 2-1. Canario’s horrible throw allowed the runner to go to second. A sacrifice bunt moved the runner to third. Yohan Ramirez struck out the next batter. Don Kelly made his 2nd bad move. He intentionally walked Ian Happ to face Nico Hoerner. Happ is a switch hitter. He is hitting the same from either side of the plate, a whopping .225. Hoerner is hitting .322 in the last 30 games. He doubled to left-center field, giving the Cubs their insurance run. They really did not need it. The Pirates were pathetic in the 9th. After an opening single, the last 3 batters all struck out. Each one took 2 called strikes. Two of the three took called 3rd strikes. That is a great two-strike approach the Pirates are teaching. Take the pitch and pray.
Next Game: This afternoon, Cubs in Chicago. Back to the Carmen Mlodzinski experiment today. Why the Pirates want this guy to be a starting pitcher, God only knows. I guess the only good thing is they sent Heaney to the bullpen. Too bad they did not use him yesterday. It will be a big surprise if the Pirates win today. Can they score more than 3 runs today? Oh, to be able to see 1966 again.
The Goofy Game of Golf/Life Searching for the Answer 