Final Score: Pirates 5 Giants 9 in 10 innings
Why The Pirates Lost: Bryan Reynolds hit a grand slam home run in the bottom of the 4th to give the Pirates a 5-0 lead. From that moment on, the Pirates got one more hit, 2 walks, struck out 10 times and made 15 consecutive outs at one point. They did not get a hit from the 5th to the end of the game. Jared Jones pitched what I consider his standard outing now, 6 innings, 3 runs, with at least one home run. A good outing but certainly not phenom like. The bullpen thought they would get into the act by giving up 6 runs, 6 hits, but “only” 5 walks in 4 innings of work. In that 6 inning span the Pirates went from a team looking like they were going to win 3 in a row to a team that looks in total disarray. I don’t know what is worse, seeing them fill the bases and never scoring, or never getting on base period for a protracted period of time.
Key Moment Of The Game: Despite the horrible batting over 4 and 2/3 innings, the Pirates were clinging to a 5-4 lead going into the top of the 9th. Colin Holderman had limited the damage in the 8th when Aroldis Chapman walked the bases loaded to start the inning. Holderman allowed only one run to score which made the score 5-4. He got the first 2 outs in the top of the 9th. The count went to 2-2 to Luis Matos. He threw two sweepers in a row and Matos hit the 2nd one to left field for a base hit. Holderman opened the at bat by throwing a 99 MPH sinker. Reynolds booted the ball and Matos was able to make it to second. Holderman threw 3 straight sweepers to LaMonte Wade Jr. He ripped the third one to right field for a base hit to tie the game. Holderman threw a lot of sweepers in the 8th too, but when you have a 98+ MPH sinker why are you throwing the sweeper that much. Regardless, once the game was tied you knew it was over. The 10th was a disaster and the Pirates fell to 23-27. What a team!
The Next Game: This afternoon, the Giants in Pittsburgh. Paul Skenes goes today for the Pirates and hopefully they can secure a series win. The big bad Atlanta Brave are coming to town. They haven’t been that big or bad lately winning only 8 of their last 17 games. I don’t know if that is good or bad. Are they due to come out of this mild funk? Let’s hope not. That’s what makes last night lost sting even more.
The Goofy Game of Golf/Life Searching for the Answer 