Tag: Won a close one

Final Score: Pirates 3 Diamondbacks 2 in 10 innings

Why The Pirates Won: The bullpen did the job. They held the Diamondbacks scoreless over the last 4 and 2/3 innings of the game. They held them to 2 hits while only walking one. Mitch Keller had his second good start going 5 and 1/3 giving up 2 runs on 6 hits while walking one. The whole staff came up big when they needed to, allowing only 2 hits in 14 at bats with runners in scoring position. The Diamondbacks left 10 runners on base. Brandon Lowe had a big game going 3 for 5 with 2 RBIs, including the game winner. Bryan Reynolds drove in the tying run in the bottom of the 8th. The Pirates did not give this one away. Maybe this will start a trend.

Key Moments Of The Game: Keller was doing well going into the top of the 6th. Things began to unravel as the inning opened with 2 singles. Keller struck out the next batter. An infield hit loaded the bases. Max Kepler took a low changeup and ripped it down the right field line for a double to drive in 2 runs. I was a little surprised it did not clear the bases. In came Yohan (Doing Better Than I Thought He Would) Ramirez. He got Tyler Locklear to ground out to Jared Triolo who threw the runner out at the plate. He battled Adrian Del Castillo for 8 pitches getting him to ground out to first to end the inning. In the top of the 10th Mason Montgomery over came a Nick Gonzales throwing error to hold the Diamondbacks scoreless. This put runners on second and third with one out. In a battle royal Montgomery struck out Gabriel Moore on an eleven pitch at bat. He fouled off 7 pitches. On the first pitch of the at bat, Max Kepler hit a solid line drive but right to Jake Magnum in center to end the inning. Brandon Lowe got the game winner and the Pirates had a big win. Two more to go.

Next game: Tonight, Diamondbacks in Pittsburgh. Bubba Chandler goes for the Pirates. Chandler has pitched better the last 6 weeks culminating with his best performance of the year against the Yankees limiting them to just 2 hits in 6 and 1/3 innings. He walked just one. After the debacle with the Cubs the Pirates really need a sweep. No sense speculating on the Esmerlyn Valdez wrist injury. We can just hope it is nothing serious. Can the Pirates keep this going?