Pirates Crack Under Dodger Pressure, Fall 5-2 In Finale

It was a bad Chad first frame with a hit, couple of walks and couple of whiffs, though he escaped without a run. Same routine in the second for Kuhl Whip, as a couple of walks were mixed in with a couple of hits to make it 1-0. The Bucs used that formula to tie it off Hyun-Jin Ryu with a walk and a pair of knocks, with Jordy's two-out single scoring S-Rod. The third was a broken record for Kuhl with another walk and two more hits (that's five of each) but S-Rod cut down a runner at home to keep it knotted. In the fourth, it was again advantage LA when Curtis Granderson, who has turned into Superman against the Bucs this series, hit a two-out homer. Steven Brault came on in the fifth (Kuhl was already at 92 pitches) and then got into a sixth-inning jam thx to a ground ball single, double off Fraze's mitt on a tough play but one you'd expect to see made, and *sigh* another walk. He did wiggle out; the Dodgers have stranded more runners in the past two days than Santa has elves on his payroll.

The broad side of a barn was safe from Chad's missiles today (photo Pittsburgh Pirates)

The Dodgers added another in the seventh when Yusiel Puig's at 'em liner to center was misread by Cutch, who broke in and then saw the ball carry over him for two bases; a single scored Puig. Later in the inning, plate ump Paul Emmel started his arm up to call strike three on a two-out, full-count delivery by John Barbato but changed his POV when batter Chris Taylor jogged toward first. That act got Clint ejected as the boys in blue continue to hasten the era of robo-umps with their performances. Jordy answered with a one-out double off Josh Fields, scoring when Fraze singled off Tony Watson and sent a runner to third, but Pedro Baez came in to get Cutch swinging. Angel Sanchez got a rude welcome in the eighth, giving up b-2-b homers to Yasmani Grandal and Adrian Gonzalez Puig. There was no more scoring and chalk up another series for Big Blue.

Angel had a devilish MLB start (Robbie Rogers/Getty)

Losing three out of four to LA isn't an unexpected result. The Pirates MO wasn't pretty, though. The bats disappeared in the final two games, walks/homers dogged the staff, and - did ya notice? - the only game they made all the plays in the field was the game they won. But we're glad to see the young guys get some playing time, even with the inevitable training wheel spills; the FO has some figuring out to do for the 2018 campaign and they have to start by knowing what's in their own pipeline.

Notes:

• Jordy had two hits; J-Hay and Freeser had a knock and a walk.
• The Dodgers haven't lost back-to-back games since July 20-21. They became the third team to reach 90 wins by August 25th, joining the 2001 Mariners & 1998 Yankees.
• There were 22,115 at the yard this afternoon.
• The Pirates have reportedly signed 28-year-old RHP Johnny Hellweg from indie ball and will assign him to Altoona. Hellweg had a brief stop with the Brew Crew in 2013 and spent the last two seasons with the New Jersey Jackals after undergoing 2014 TJ surgery. The closer is a strikeout machine but his other stats (3.79 ERA, 1.421 WHIP) aren't much to write home about. We're guessing the FO is just trying to juggle rosters with September call-ups and minor-league playoffs around the corner.
• Casey Sadler, now at Altoona, tossed his first-ever pro complete game in a 2-1 win over Bowie.