7-18-21 – By Gary Morgan
Last night the Pirates pulled off an improbable comeback. Today the Mets tried to return the favor.
They never would have been in that situation if they’d spent less time being petulant.
And I guess they could also spend less time brooding about John Nogowski and try to get him out instead.
That’s how things work sometimes.
See when you’re a team like the Pirates, 20 games under .500, even teams that didn’t do anything more than happen to be in a crap division to lead one like the Mets roll into town feeling like you should just roll over for them. Bow to their superior lineup. Swing at their pitches that don’t cross the zone. Most of all, don’t take advantage of their miscues or overt idiocy.
That, however is rarely how baseball works.
The Mets did get back into this one as JT Brubaker continued to slip from the steadiness he displayed early in the season. They tagged him for 4 runs and tacked on another later.
Brubaker is being managed differently. The Pirates are being ultra conservative with his pitch and inning counts. Aware that he’s handled quite a workload, they’re trying to mitigate it by deliberately shortening his outings.
With a 6-5 lead in the 9th the Pirates called on Richard Rodriguez who gave up a two run shot to Michael Conforto to flip the script on the Buccos 7-6.
Gamel walked to start the 9th but the Bucs couldn’t make it happen again.
The Pirates head to the West Coast, starting in Arizona. Chase De Jong vs that TBD guy again, he’s pretty good. 9:40 EST.
News & Notes
- Gregory Polanco stole second in the game, he is now 9 for 9 on the season and easily leads the team in swipes.
- Adam Frazier had a hit in the first inning yesterday and went hitless until the 8th of this one. You know you’re having a hell of a season when that raises eyebrows.
- Kevin Newman’s bases clearing swinging bunt in the first had an exit velocity of 107 and a launch angle of -57. Again, you almost have to try to do something like that.
- Adam Frazier moved out to Left Field today as part of a Spring Training style wholesale merry go round the diamond to insert Hayes and remove Polanco in the 8th. This wasn’t a “showcase his skills” type thing. Although it probably doesn’t hurt.
- As good as Richard Rodriguez has been, this would have been his 14th save on the season. He instead blew the save with the two run blast by Conforto.
- Ben Gamel was on base 4 times tonight.
- This is the first time in National League history that a team has come back from a 6 run deficit one night and allowed the opponent to do the same the next.
- The Pirates Catchers (54) have combined for more RBIs than any other team in the NL.
Inside The Bucs Basement 