Tag: One big swing

Final Score: Pirates 4 Angels 1

Why The Pirates Won: No deep analysis here, Mitch Keller pitched a complete game (KCG) and Edward Olivares hit a grand slam (OGS) to send them to their 3rd win in a row. Keller went the distance, giving up 1 run on 5hits, walking 1, while striking out 5. He did have some problems, as we will see when we get to key moments of the game but the good news here is, he seemed to get stronger as the game wore on. He struck out 2 in the 9th and his fastball touched 97 MPH. Without question his best start of the year by a long shot. It was nice to see Olivares come out of his funk with a double and the home run. Bryan Reynolds had a double and a single hitting the ball hard, at least 95MPH, all 4 at bats. Make no mistake though, the Pirates as a whole are still in a hitting funk. After the grand slam, thanks to a caught stealing, the Pirates only sent 3 men to the plate 4 of the last 5 innings and really never threatened to score another run. Maybe today will be the day.

Key Moments Of The Game: No question the grand slam was the big hit of the game. The Pirates had the 4-0 lead going into the top of the 4th and right off the bat Keller gave up a lead off single. Mickey Moniak scorched a drive into right center field and the runner from first tried to score. Oneil Cruz threw a one hop bullet from short right field that nailed the non-sliding runner at the plate by a half of step. This at least kept the Angels from having that break back inning. These were the first two hits that Keller had given up in the game and the score quickly could have become 4-1 with a runner on second with no outs. There was another sharply hit ball but right at Bryan Reynolds for the 2nd out. In the top of the 7th with the score 4-1 the Angels opened the inning with a double. Keller was almost as quick as Jared Jones getting out of a jam, as he induced 3 straight ground ball outs in 7 pitches. From that point on Keller mowed them down to pitch the complete game.

Next Game: Tonight, Angels in Pittsburgh. Quinn Priester takes the hill for the Pirates tonight looking to get his 3rd straight quality start. The Angels are starting Patrick Sandoval who has a career record of 18-42 but with an ERA of 3.98. He has not been quite that good this year but let’s hope his hard luck continues. The good news here is he is left handed so all 270 lbs. of Rawhide Rowdy should be on the bench. The Pirates are .001 ahead of the Reds and moved into 3rd place just 4 games behind the Cubs and Brewers. Can we make it 4 in a row. The Shadow Shelton is looking at that lineup card right now thinking how can I screw this up. Would he dare put Tellez in against a left hander? Only The Shelton knows.