4/12/23- By Craig W. Toth – @BucsBasement on Twitter
Happy 412 Day To Yinzers Everywhere!
Although, there wasn’t very much for Pirates Fans to be happy about in today’s rubber-match with the Houston Astros; unless you are a fan of acrobatic plays by the opposing fielders.
Even if these drop in, Houston was just a little bit to much for the Pirates to handle; especially the bullpen, as they allowed 5 runs on 7 hits across just 3 innings of work.
These types of losses are almost worse than when your team gives up a snowman in the first inning and can’t muster a comeback. For six innings the Pirates were within striking-distance-Bruce Willis style. Then in the blink of an eye, it was a 7-0 loss to the Redbirds.
News & Notes
- 43 year-old Rich Hill now has three starts on the season. A decent one, followed by a total clunker and the final one today; which would fall into the former category, with a final line of 6IP/5H/2ER/2BB/0K. On the season his ERA is still a ballooned 7.20 because of the aforementioned clunker; but, if you look at his WHIP, it is a backend starter 1.33 at the moment.
- Dauri “Big Bank” Moreta was far from Money this afternoon; allowing 3 runs on 3 hits-including a homer to Alex Bregman-and two walks.
- Feast or famine. That the best way to describe the Pirates offense so far this year. The league average for runs per game is right around 4.5. In their first 12 games of the season Pittsburgh has scored higher than this 5 times-totaling 37 runs-while scoring a combined 14 runs in the other 7 contests.
- Bryan Reynolds has at least one hit in eleven out of the first twelve games. This shouldn’t really surprise you if you’ve been watching at all.
- Rule 5 Pick Jose Hernandez has only allowed one earned run during his five appearances, while striking out five and walking one. That’s good for a 1.42 ERA and a 1.11 WHIP.
The Pirates hit the road to take on St. Louis for an extended weekend series, with the first game scheduled for Thursday at 7:45 from Busch Stadium. For Pittsburgh Vince Velasquez (0-2, 9.82 ERA) toes the rubber against Jordan Montgomery (2-0, 2.25 ERA) for the Cardinals.
Editor’s Note: Almost immediately after the Pirates contest with the Astros ended, it was announced that JT had TJ, with a timeline of return to action set at 12 to 14 months.
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