Final Score: Pirates 9 Dodgers 8
Why The Pirates Won: Tyler Callihan hit the first two home runs of his major league career, including a big 3 run homer in the bottom of the 8th to put the Pirates up 7-6. Three batters later Spencer Horwitz hit a 2 run homer that proved to be the margin of difference. The Pirates trailed 6-1 going into the bottom of the 7th inning. They scored 3 in the 7th and 5 in the 8th to take a 9-6 lead. Shohei Ohtani hit a 2 run homer in the 9th to make it very interesting. Jared Jones went 4 innings giving up 2 runs on 4 hits throwing 75 pitches. The Pirates snapped their 4 game losing streak and were finally able to beat one of the elite teams in the National League. If they can somehow pull out a win tonight they will go 2-4 against the Braves and the Dodgers, not the disaster it was shaping up to be.
Key Moments Of The Game: Walks turned out to be the key to this game, along with Bryan Reynolds making the best catch of his career. In the top of the 3rd with 2 out Jared Jones issued his only walk. Shohei Ohtani lifted a deep fly ball to left field. Bryan Reynolds went back to the wall and leaped up to rob Ohtani of a home run. In the top of the 6th Carmen Mlodzinski loaded the bases on a single and two walks. Ryan Ward took a first pitch sweeper right down the middle and drilled it into the right field seats for a grand slam home run. In the bottom of the 7th inning the Pirates put the first two men on base via the walk and a single. Jared Triolo and Horwitz were both called out on strikes. They would redeem themselves the very next inning. Ohtani fell behind Brandon Lowe 3 and 0. On one of the guttiest swings of the year, Lowe lined the next pitch down the right field line for a double to score 2 runs. When Max Muncy whiffed on a ground ball by Brian Reynolds, Lowe scored. The Pirates had cut the lead to 6-4. The Dodgers walked the first two batters to start the bottom of the 8th. Callihan made them pay by taking a first pitch change up into the seats. Triolo doubled and Horwitz homered. The Pirates walked away with their most improbable win of the season.
Next Game: Tonight, Dodgers, in Pittsburgh. The Pirates have a chance to take the series tonight. Mitch Keller will go for the Pirates. He is due for a good start and the Pirates desperately need one. They have given up 20 runs in the first two games. Amazingly they won one of those games. It would be so wonderful if 4 or 5 runs would be enough to win tonight’s game. Do you believe in miracles?
The Goofy Game of Golf/Life Searching for the Answer 