Frankie Bombed Early; Bucs Chip Away But Fall 8-5

When Frankie could get a pitch over the plate, it was at the belt and flat; as you can imagine, it wasn't a good night.  It fact, it was pretty epic failure - he lasted two innings, giving up seven runs on five hits, two of which left the yard, two walks, a hit batter and a wild pitch while laboring through 55 mostly forgettable pitches. The fielding didn't help either; Starling ho-hummed a ground ball single to let one run in, and Kang's slight bobble of a DP ball extended a nightmarish second inning; six runs scored with two outs.

Down 7-0 in the second, the Bucs did try to come back, but the chasm was just too deep. Of course, if they hadn't stranded ten runners, they might have even made the game interesting. The Pirates did crank out 13 hits, but 11 K took some pressure off a Twin staff that generally is weak on whiffs. The sixth and seventh were especially frustrating; Cutch lined out to center two out and runners on second and third in the former, while Chris Stewart hit into a DP with two aboard and a run already in to close the latter. Pittsburgh ended up 4-of-17 with RISP.

Pedro sends a ball swimmin' (photo Dave Arrigo/Pirates)

There was a memorable shot fired - Pedro caught a Ricky Nolasco sinker and drilled it 461', reaching the Allegheny on the fly and threatening to sink an unsuspecting boat bobbing in its dock.

Jeff Locke will face Mike Pelfrey tonight to close the quick two-game set with the Twins.

• Pedro joined Houston's Daryle Ward (2002) and Garrett Jones (2013) as the only players to splash-down on the fly in the Allegheny at PNC Park. He has gotten two other shots wet in his career by bouncing balls into the river in 2013.
• Josh and Jung-Ho continued their hot hitting; both had three knocks last night.
• Fran Cervelli was taken out after taking a foul to the neck in the fifth inning. We'll see if that's still bothering him today.
• Vance Worley made his first 2015 appearance from the pen, tossing two scoreless frames. The whole bullpen did its job; five pitchers gave up a run on three hits in seven frames.
• Jose Tabata singled home a run as a pinch hitter in his first 2015 outing as a Pirate.
• Charlie Morton made what's anticipated to be his last rehab start, working 6-1/3 innings for Indy. He gave up two runs, two hits and four walks with nine strikeouts against Boston's Pawtucket farm club.