Buc Bats Silenced By Phelps, Miami In 3-1 Loss

Nice opening frame for Chad Kuhl; three up, three down w/o a ball leaving the infield. David Phelps gave up a leadoff knock to Josh, but a Starling comebacker was turned into a DP and Cutch lined out. Chad gave up a single in the second that caused no damage thanks to Andrew's layout catch to end the inning, while Phelps fanned a pair in a quiet frame.

Chad had a promising outing (photo Pittsburgh Pirates)

A dying quail leadoff single in the third was almost erased when Gregory made a play to first on the lob to right; the throw was originally ruled to have gotten the out, but a challenge overturned it as Jaso, prob not expecting a play, didn't quite have the footwork to pull it off. That hurt when a fly to deep center clanged of Cutch's mitt; he had it measured but it popped out to allow the runner to score. The rest of the frame went quietly. Not as quietly as the Bucs half, when all three batters whiffed for five straight K by Phelps.

The fourth went an out too long - with two away, Ichiro doubled and Xavier Scruggs golfed a sinker over the wall in left for his first MLB homer. The Pirates again went down without a battle. It was a calm fifth for Kuhl. The Bucs broke Phelps' string at 13 straight batters with a pair of two-out walks, but Jordy's fly left them aboard. Three grounders, three outs for the Fish in the sixth. Josh doubled, but the rest of the Bucs remained baffled.

Jeff Locke took the ball in the seventh, and he worked it nicely, giving up just a single.  Mike Dunn claimed the hill for Miami, and he picked up Marlin K's #10 & 11 in a 1-2-3 inning. Josh Bell pinch hit for JJ and popped out, then took over 1B while Jeff coaxed three bouncers in the eighth. Kyle Barraclough answered the phone. Jordy smacked a one-out, opposite field double, scoring on Josh's third knock of the night to make it 3-1.

Josh was the only Buc who remembered his stick tonight (photo Pittsburgh Pirates)

Jared Hughes came on in the ninth, and struck out a pair, the first whiffs of the night recorded by a Pirates pitcher. Fernando Rodney notched a couple of more punchouts in closing the affair.

Four hits and 14 K aren't gonna win ya many games.Phelps has been tough as a starter and bedeviled the Bucs tonight. Kuhl had a pretty good outing, too, with only a missed catch and a two-out mini-rally hurting him; his groundball-to-fly outs tonight were 10-3. Pittsburgh was simply outpitched and outplayed, and hoping to salvage a win tomorrow.

• Josh had three of the four Bucco hits. The Pirates 2-3-4 hitters, Cutch, Gregory and Freeser, went 0-for-12 with nine K as Freese earned a golden sombrero
• The Pirates announced that Jung Ho Kang went on the 15-day DL (left shoulder) and they recalled 1B/OF Josh Bell. JHK hurt the shoulder when he slid into second last night. Given the date, Bell should be up now for the rest of the campaign.
• Tonight's fireworks crowd of 37,828 was a sellout.
• Tyler Glasnow tossed another side session yesterday without any glitches and will be assigned to a rehab start soon.