5/12/23- By Michael Castrignano – @412DoublePlay on Twitter
A game which seemed to be very winnable throughout the night came crashing down when Mullins hit a 3-run home run in the 8th inning to finish off the cycle on the night. He had previously singled in the third, tripled in the fifth and doubled in the seventh to help lead his team to victory.
The Pirates managed to start up a comeback against reliever Austin Voth as they managed to get the tying run to the plate but the Orioles went to their closer, Felix Bautista, and he struck out 3 straight to shut the door on the game.
Starting pitcher Johan Oviedo didn’t have his best control but managed to keep the team in the game with his best outing in over 3 weeks. He was leaning mostly slider but was mixing pitches more than his previous starts and his velocity seemed to be up a ticket on most of his pitches as well.
Unfortunately, the bullpen struggled as Jose Hernandez was charged with 2 runs in .1 innings of work and Duane Underwood, Jr gave up 3 runs on 3 hits and 2 walks (including the home run to Mullins) in a critical moment for the team.
News & Notes
- Oviedo managed to avoid trouble for the most part with 5+ innings of work, 4 hits, 1 run, 3 strikeouts and 5 walks on 86 pitches (44 strikes). 3 of the walks were on 4 pitches while the other 2 came on 5 pitches.
- Pirates manufactured their first run in the third inning when Ji-hwan Bae got an infield single to short, moved to 2nd on a wild pitch, to 3rd on an Austin Hedges ground-out to short and came home on a ground ball to short by Ke’Bryan Hayes, scoring on an errant throw.
- Ryan Mountcastle hit a lead-off triple down the right field line that just glanced off the glove of Connor Joe. Pirates challenged the fair call on the play and lost. Mountcastle would score on a wild pitch from reliever Dauri Moreta, the first time this season that an inherited runner has scored on him.
- Leading off the 7th, Joe hit a home run 410 down the line, staying *just* fair to give the Pirates a 2-1 lead.
- Mullins was the first opponent to hit for the cycle against the Pirates since Brad Wilkerson did it for the Expos on June 24, 2003.
- The Pirates hope to rebound in game 2 tomorrow night. First pitch is at 7:05pm with Roansy Contreras set to start. Let’s Go Bucs!
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