Final Score: Pirates 4 Rockies 10
Why The Pirates Lost: The pitching performed badly again. What was supposed to be this teams strength may need to be reevaluated or restructured. For the 11th time this season the Pirates have given up 6 or more runs. That’s 25% of the games played. They have fallen all the way to 17th in baseball in runs allowed per game. This time the culprit was Mitch Keller. Of course the bullpen contributed too. Keller looked like he was going to repeat the Skenes performance until the roof caved in during the 5th inning. He had thrown 4 perfect innings. The Rockies lit Keller up and took no time to do it. After 12 pitches in the 5th the Rockies had 3 singles, a double, and another single and the game was tied 3-3. Things seem to settle down a bit as the Pirates threw a guy out at the plate and a soft liner to Konnor Griffin put 2 away. Keller grooved a 2-2 sweeper to Mickey Moniak and he did not miss it, hitting it over the Clemente wall for a 3 run home run to give the Rockies a 6-3 lead. The bullpen gave up 4 more runs with Justin Lawrence leading the way. His throwing error on a routine 1-6-3 double play ball allowed the Rockies to score 3 runs and wrap up the game.
Key Moments Of The Game: The Pirates had a 2-0 lead going into the bottom of the 3rd thanks to heads up base running by Brandon Lowe and a botched run down by the Rockies. Konnor Griffin led off the inning with a double. Bryan Reynolds singled him home to make it 3-0. Marcell Ozuna miraculously singled and the Pirates had 1st and 2nd with no one out. At this point the Pirate broadcast booth was absolutely giddy. Ryan O’ Hearn hit the ball hard but unfortunately right at the 1st basemen T J Rumfield and the Rockies turned a sweet 3-6-1 double play. The 6 run 5th happened and the Pirates went down the drain.
Next Game: This afternoon Rockies in Pittsburgh. There has been a lot written about how tough the Pirate schedule has been and when the Pirates play lesser teams how their record will improve. Well, if the Rockies win today the Pirates will have lost 2 series in a row to teams with a combined record of 35-51. So much for that theory. It says that Mason Montgomery is going to start. Does that mean Mlodzinski is going to be the bulk guy. This formula was so successful resulting in a 3 hit shutout that it took the Pirates only 25 games and over a month to repeat it. I really don’t know if they are or is this a true bullpen game. I can hardly wait.
The Goofy Game of Golf/Life Searching for the Answer 