The Pirates Bats Fell Silent Once Again

First of all Happy Father’s to all the Dads out there; as well as the men and women who step up to fill any void. Your presence in our children’s lives is immeasurable and we are forever thankful for all you do.

For me, I was lucky enough to have multiple family members who showed me love and support in every aspect of my life; and a part of this was a passion for baseball, but more specifically the Pittsburgh Pirates. So, it was no surprise that on a beautiful Sunday afternoon we found ourselves focused on JT Brubaker’s performance.

Through the first four plus innings Brubaker was completely cruising, until Harold Ramirez hit his third solo homer of the series. Even then he wasn’t phased very much, as he would be charged with another run; but only allowed two other hits, while striking out nine and not walking a single Cleveland batter.

Unfortunately it was the second earned run that would be the deciding factor as the Pirates dropped the final game of the series 2 to 1.

News and Notes

• Five of the Pirates six hits came from the expected cast of characters (Frazier, Hayes, Reynolds, Stallings and Moran), but in the end it was only worth one run.
• On the season JT Brubaker has posted a 3.77 ERA and a 1.12 WHIP, which leads the Pirates in both categories. He also had the most strikeouts (72) and the lowest combined batting average against (.238).
• Derek Shelton will continue to be questioned concerning his decisions as far as pitching usage is concerned. When he was removed from the game Brubaker had only thrown 76 pitches, with 59 of them being for strikes.
• Sam Howard was placed on the 10 Day IL prior to the start of the game, after his worst outing of the season by far. In his place Austin Davis threw his second straight scoreless inning on the year.
• I am actually kind of surprised by the number of people on my Twitter timeline that actually watch the NBA. For the record the last full game I watched was game 7 of the 2012 Eastern Conference Finals.

The Pirates are off on Monday, before returning to action in a short two game series against the Southside White Sox on Tuesday and Wednesday, with yours truly in attendance for the Afternoon Matinee.