We were getting to the point in the Reds-Pirates series that rooting for simply not getting blown out seemed like a more achievable goal than a win. A pitchers dual wasn’t on my menu though, and the final score sure didn’t make it look like one occurred.
This was a good old fashioned National League baseball game. Tons of moves, pinch hitting, pitching changes and small ball decisions. That obviously fits in nicely with how the Pirates want to play baseball, problem is, they continued to let opportunities to score slip through their fingers.
Mike Moustakas hit a solo homerun off Trevor Cahill in the second.
And Gregory Polanco drew the club even after personally squandering two opportunities earlier.
That’s where the game stood. The Reds squandered chances, both teams plowed through their bullpen to keep it tied at 1 through 9.
The Pirates have only had one extra inning contest this season so it’s probably good to remind you that the league has adopted the ghost runner rule for extras this year.
The Pirates turned to Duane Underwood Jr. with Nick Senzel at second, Winker would deliver immediately. 2-1 Reds. He would load the bases and surrender a bases clearing double to Suarez to make it 5-1 Reds in the top of the 10th.
Final score, 5-1. Wil Crowe vs Anthony DeSclafani and the San Francisco Giants at 6:35.
News & Notes
- The Pirates entered today’s game ranked 28th in MLB with a 3.97 Runners left in scoring position figure. For a team that ranks 19th in On base percentage this is devastating. For instance, the LA Dodgers rank 30th in runners left in scoring position but they’re also first in On Base so they survive it easier. Small ball and not capitalizing on these situations don’t go well together.
- Harkening back to my piece this morning about the outfield. Ka’ai Tom went 0 for 2 with a walk and Ben Gamel went 1 for 3 with a walk while Gregory Polanco went 1 for 4.
- Kevin Newman is starting to find it a bit. 2 for 5 today off a good game last night.
- Phillip Evans exited the game in the 5th after moving to second on a Gregory Polanco RBI single. He looked like he tried to pull up to ensure it would drop and tweaked something, the team announced it was left hamstring discomfort. Probably not an IL trip I’d guess. Adam Frazier entered the game and Gonzalez slid over to first base. If this lingers, rather than looking for a move I’d assume we’ll see Difo, Gonzalez or Gamel take over as we wait for Evans or Moran to return.
- Good news on Colin Moran today, the team expects his return to be very close to his 10 day minimum stay. It was good news before Evans was removed, now it’s great news.
- Sonny Gray got worked today, the team patiently made him get deep into counts on almost every at bat. He would exit in the 5th to get to the considerably weaker Reds bullpen.
- Trevor Cahill went 5.1 innings of 3 hit 1 run ball today. He is either really good or really below the line. Today was a good day.
- Chasen Shreve made his 2021 debut and stranded inherited runners at 1st and 3rd in the 7th to keep the game tied.
- To get the last out in the 8th, David Bednar hit 100 on the gun. He’s always got that in his back pocket, and man he embarrassed Suarez in that at bat as he also dropped a 79 MPH curve on him. That’s a wide spread to cover, and his arm looks exactly the same for each from the batters box.
- Adam Frazier was a late replacement in this one and got two at bats, and was not able to extend his hitting streak.
Inside The Bucs Basement 