Tag: The last month

Final Score: Pirates 5 Cardinals 4

Why The Pirates Won: The Pirate bullpen with the exception of one hiccup held the Cardinals in check. They had to because Don (I Don’t Pay Attention To Pitch Counts) Kelly took Braxton Ashcraft out of the game after throwing only 71 pitches in 5 innings. The offense made the most of 8 hits and 4 walks scoring 5 runs. It did not hurt that the Cardinals dropped a pop up in top of the 3rd that allowed Oneil Cruz to score the 3rd run of the game. Without that horrendous error by the Cardinals the game would have gone into extra innings. They earned their other runs with Esmerlyn Valdez hitting a 2-run homer and Jared Triolo a solo shot. They scored the fifth and deciding run in the top of the 7th, thanks to two walks, and a big 2 out hit by Brandon Lowe to make the score 5-2 at the time. The Pirates are 6 games out of the wild card as they head home. Nothing less than a 6-0 homestand will suffice.

Key Moments Of The Game: The score was 5-2 heading into the bottom of the 7th inning. The Pirates brought in a well rested Camilo Doval to pitch. Maybe he was too rested because he was not sharp at all. He walked Ramon Urias who his hitting .151 on 5 pitches. Thomas Saggese hit a soft liner to center for a single putting runners on 1st and 3rd. Doval got the first out of the inning on a sacrifice fly to make the score 5-3. Ivan Herrara doubled down the left field line to make the score 5-4. Doval walked Alec Burleson on 4 pitches. Jorden Walker was the next batter. Doval got two called strikes on two borderline pitches. However, on the 2nd pitch Doval fell asleep at the wheel allowing the runners to get a huge jump for a successful double steal. It was right here that you felt that this game had loss written all over it. Dovel got Walker to swing and miss on one late breaking slider for the 2nd out. Yohan Ramirez came on to get the last out throwing 4 of 6 pitches in the strike zone. I was happy when he did not come out for the 8th inning. Kelly used the A team, Weaver and Montgomery, for the second day in a row and they came through to preserve the win.

Next Game: Tomorrow night, Giants in Pittsburgh. The Pirates have this odd quirk in their schedule where they never play a game on Monday for the rest of the month. They will never play more than 6 days in a row. They have 24 games to go and are 6 games back. It is obvious they have no room for error. They are playing two teams, the Giants and the Angels that have the 28th and tied for 29th worse records in baseball. I realize those two teams will be playing with no pressure on them, but bad is bad. This is where the Pirates HAVE to win 8 in a row. With the two wins in St. Louis their playoffs odds “jumped” to 0.5%. I wonder if the Pirate broadcast booth will open with that stat tomorrow night. Stay tuned.