Bucs Fan 17 Times During 12-1 Thumping

It was 1-2-3 for the Bucs against Alex Wood to open; not quite that for Trevor Williams. He started by getting two dribblers hit up the first base line; he tossed one away and grabbed the other as it was rolling foul. A walk juiced the sacks and a one-out knock plated a run. Chris Taylor got an 0-2 slider down Broadway and ripped it over the fence, and how about 5-0 already? An out later, Yasiel Puig went deep, too. Williams had an 80-pitch limit; he's at 41. Quiet second; Wood has K'ed four Pirates already and Trevor tossed a clean frame. The Pirates worked a walk in the third to go with two more fan jobs. LA got an infield single and knock to right with one away; they ended up with runners at second and third after an ill-advised attempt at the lead man by Jose Osuna. Prob no diff; the next guy doubled them home to make the score 8-0.

Cutch had a knock and walk

Gregory singled with two down in the fourth after another pair of K's; the Bucs can't touch Wood's knuckle-curve/change combo with the occasional off-the-dish two-seamer. Josh Lindblom got the call and four hits later it was 10-0. The first two Buccos reached in the fifth; the next three fanned. Josh pitched a clean frame. Wood left after five IP, 11 K and 88 pitches and Pittsburgh scored, with Osuna knocking in Jordy. LA was quiet again. No seventh inning noise for Pittsburgh; the Blue Crew added a pair. Josh had bases-loaded, no outs and then almost wiggled out by whiffing a pair before a double made it 12-1. The last two frames flew by, and the Bucs were off to not such a great start on their west coast visit.

Well, might as well get it out all out of the system. LA had 15 hits; Pirate batters had 17 whiffs, and that's tonight's tale.

Notes:

• Cutch doubled and walk; no one else reached base more than once.
• The 17 strikeouts tied the nine-inning franchise mark for futility. The record was set not that long ago on June 18th, 2013, v Cincinnati.
• Chris Bostick made his MLB debut tonight, replacing El Coffee in left. He and fellow call-up Max Moroff went 0-for-5, striking out all five times. Welcome to the show! 
• The Pirates worst inning? Yep, the first - they've given up 26 runs in 32 games.
• At least Felipe Rivero got a night off. He's tossed in 18 of the first 31 games. Felipe not only leads the NL in appearances but has also put up goose eggs in his last 13 outings.
• Cory Luebke, who tossed for the Pirates a bit last year and was once a rising star, retired. He was in the White Sox system at AAA, but couldn't overcome a pair of TJ surgeries to return to his glory days.