Miami Mashes Tyler, Buccos 12-7

It was a nice 11 pitch opener for Tyler Glasnow. He gave up an opening knock that was erased on a caught stealing, with Jacob Stalling's gun-out passing a challenge to overturn the original safe call. The Bucs claimed an early lead against Vance Worley with back-to-back doubles to start by Fraze and J-Hay. In the second, Ty was singled to death. He gave up four knocks (one off El Coffee's glove and another off Freesers) to fall behind 2-1 in the second. Cutch walked to lead off but went nowhere. Giancarlo Stanton started the third by embarrassing NASA and launching a baseball that landed 465' away above the batter's eye in center. A single and two-out bomb by Tyler Moore made it 5-1 in a hurry. With an out, Vanimal bopped J-Hay and walked Gregory. Freeser dropped a ball into center to score the first free runner. J-Bell's rap filled the bases with Buccos; Cutch hit into a first pitch 6-4-3 DP, even with a bobble on the SS's part.

Another tough night for Ty (photo Pittsburgh Pirates)

A single, bunt and double continued Ty's sad outing in the fourth and a stolen base/throw into left brought in a seventh run. Jordy singled and an out later, Jose Osuna banged a two-bagger. Fraze's bounce out brought home one run and chased Vanimal as Dustin McGowan came in. He lost J-Hay on a 3-2 wild pitch, which allowed Osuna to scamper home before he shut it down. Wade LeBlanc took to the bump in the fifth and spun a clean frame. An error and a walk put the Bucs in business with an out. Jordy drilled a liner; it was an at 'em ball to short and turned into an easy DP. The Fish opened the sixth with a double. An out later, Ichiro rolled an 0-2 pitch that was pretty well placed into center for a run and took second when Cutch ill-advisedly tossed the ball home. No diff; Miami banged back-to-back doubles to make it 10-4, good buddy. Kyle Barraclaugh toe the pitching plate and J-Stalls welcomed him with a double. The rest of the Pirates greeted him with routine outs - a fly, grounder and K.

Dovydas Neverauskas got the seventh inning phone call and gave up Moore's second long ball of the night. He plunked a Fish with two outs but it didn't hurt (well, except maybe AJ Ellis but catchers are tough). The Bucs got knocks from Freeser and Cutch but couldn't light up the board after Jordy lined out. The middle of the Marlin order proved hard for Dovy to reel in and it's now 12-4. The Pirates got that run back from Jarlin Garcia on a Stallings knock and Fraze double. Tony Watson got the familiar ninth inning wave and worked a clean frame. Brian Ellington opened with back-to-back walks, no doubt driving Don Mattingly toward the nearest bottle. Cutch's single loaded the sacks and Nick Wittgrin took the ball. Jordy banged an 0-2 slider into center to chase home a pair. J-Stall and Goose both worked the counts full, both got 3-2 heaters down the middle and both flew out to center. Fraze fell behind 0-2 then ground out to turn out the lights.

Tony got back in the saddle although in a different role (photo Dave Arrigo/Pirates)

It's time to look in the mirror. The Pirates have to own screwing up by throwing Tyler Glasnow (and maybe Cool Chad) into the MLB fire; we hope they haven't ruined them. Guys like Wade LeBlanc, Jhan Marinez, Dovydas Neverauskas, Johnny Barbato etc. mostly aren't terrible but typical long and bridge guys who are terribly overexposed with 77 appearances. Jamo's coming back to claim one spot and it may be time to see if Steven Brault can translate his AAA performance into acceptable major league work. An extra inning or two from the starters would salve some of the problems.

Notes:

• Cutch had two knocks and two walks and Freeser added two hits and a walk. Jacob Stallings & Fraze had a pair of raps each (Adam had two 2Bs). The teams combined for 31 hits. Every Fish starter including Vanimal had a hit; Gregory was the only Pirates position player w/o a knock. The teams ran through 10 pitchers and six of them were scored on.
• Tyler Glasnow’s line: four IP, seven runs (six earned), 10 hits, one K on 65 pitches. His ERA is 7.45. LeBlanc is also showing wear and tear - in his last two appearances (2-2/3 IP), he's given up six runs.
• The Pirates have lost four straight.
• 23,590 showed up at the park tonight. The Bucs recent play is starting to cut into attendance; the team could usually count on a few thousand more warm fannies on a fireworks night.