10-2-21 – By Gary Morgan – @garymo2007 on Twitter
The score doesn’t do a game justice sometimes and this is no exception. 9-2 if you’re just waking up today simply won’t tell you what transpired here in Pittsburgh last night.
In fact, this was a 1-0 nail biter through 7 innings of this ballgame. Cole Tucker led off the game with a triple and scored on a sacrifice, and that was it.
Wil Crowe was simply dealing, 6 innings, 9 Ks, 2 BBs and he honestly could have and I believe would have gone another inning but for an excessively long bottom of the 6th that netted no runs but sure took it’s sweet time getting there while the Reds and David Bell played dirty with the rule book and a delayed challenge.
Oh, there was action and it was defensive. Check out Cole Tucker as he followed his Triple to keep that one run strong enough.
This is a catch that would typically be the highlight of the game…
But Cole instead went ahead and, pardon the pun here, doubled it up.
Wow. And if you’re a regular listener to the broadcast you know Greg Brown overuses that word, this was worthy in every way. That’s special my freinds.
Still the Pirates have that bullpen and they had to use it. Anthony Banda was called upon in the 7th and he would give up the tying run, really taking the air out of the room because the Pirates simply hadn’t gotten anything going with the sticks all game.
That would change in the 8th.
Kevin Newman with the bases loaded and the club already back up by one…
The Reds were kind enough to load the bases again and this time Cole Tucker was hunting an exclamation point.
Oh man, that is one hell of a game.
David Bednar would close it out albeit not the way he’d like giving up one more to the Reds to make it 9-2 but as I think you can see, the score wasn’t the story.
Cole Tucker was, Wil Crowe was.
Those are two names that most of us pundits and most of you fans have all but moved on from. I’ve probably written 30 times that Cole Tucker probably won’t survive the 40-man crunch, and I’ll be blunt here, one game doesn’t change that in and of itself, but it just might be enough to have the team not ready to let him go for free.
He’s never done anything with the bat to show he had what it takes, but in the past month his swing change has finally taken hold and it’s leading to more hard contact. I’m still 50/50 but if I had to guess, the Pirates aren’t, I think he’ll garner a spot on the 40 to say the least. Hard to sit here and say Hoy Park is better ya dig?
A nice moment for Cole Tucker last night as he received a standing ovation from the hardy souls who were in attendance taking the field in the 9th, and I’d just like you to think of how special someone had to look to get that the day after his team clinched a 100 loss season.
News & Notes
- Shea Spitzbarth was recalled from AAA and Miguel Yajure was sent back down prior to the game
- News broke late that the Pirates will call up Oneil Cruz for the last two games of the season. Don’t know the corresponding moves but it could easily be a pitcher that won’t go again like Crowe or Contreras
- Exciting as this was, Cole Tucker is still a -0.6 WAR player. I don’t say this to crap on the kid, only to say he’s still got work to do, but he may have done enough to buy another shot.
- Kevin Newman has had a much better second half than his first, he and Cole are both going to make the Bucs think.
- Bryan Reynolds had much of the night off before entering the contest in the 8th.
Inside The Bucs Basement 
How can you not root for Cole? Yes, he’s had his struggles at the plate and in the field, but damn if he didn’t look like an All-Star yesterday.
LikeLike
He’s more than he’d struggles, he’s never done anything with the stick. Easy to root for to be sure but his actual performance collectively has made it a reality. Here’s hoping the swing change is real
LikeLike