Pirates Out of Pitchers, Out of Players, Out of Luck in 6-5, 12-Inning Loss to LA

It was a smooth first for Gerrit Cole (a very good omen) and Alex Wood. Then in the second, the Dodgers loaded the bases with an out; a K and a grounder kept them planted. The Bucs rewarded Cole when Joey O and S-Rod went deep back-to-back in their half to jump start the Buccos. J-Hay added another dinger in the third and all was calm until the sixth. LA jammed the sacks with two outs (Cole had come back from 3-0 on Yusiel Puig with two outs and got a bouncer to third, which Freeser booted, to join a walk and a plunk to juice 'em) but an Adrian Gonzalez fly just shy of the wall was tucked away by Cutch to turn the page. The wheels came off the Cole Train in the seventh. Four of the first five Dodgers reached and Curtis Granderson parked a hanging slider in the seats before Clint waved for help. Shame on the manager for keeping in a guy who had hit the wall; shame on the FO for leaving Clint without a situational LHP (Felipe, with Frenchy on the DL, is the only lefty in the pen. RHP AJ Schugel, with his change, is the next best thing.) Schugs finished the frame.

J-Hay had another big night (graphic AT&T SportsNet)

Josh Fields put up another zippo. Huddy got through the eighth and Tony Watson came in long enough to plunk one batter and whiff another. Pedro Baez answered the phone and gave up a J-Hay double to make it 5-4, then a couple of walks. A force-out tied it; JJ walked to load them again. Brandon Morrow took the ball to get the final out. Juan Nicasio worked an easy ninth and Morrow put up a zippo, so it's bonus baseball time. Joaquin Benoit worked the 10th and on cue walked the first batter. An out later, another walk. A grounder moved them up, although it appeared Jordy had a play at second. No diff as another walk was issued, but Benoit escaped. No one was warming up, so it looks like Ben is on his own, even with 25 pitches burned, although Jamo jogged out to join the relievers between innings. That's an interesting choice as he's tomorrow's scheduled starter. Kenley Jansen toed the rubber and up went another zero. Joaquin put up another goose egg, with just one walk and a wild pitch in the 11th. Luis Avilan wiggled out when a two-out Fraze single was followed a Starling at 'em bullet to Puig.

Dovydas Neverauskas, who Clint wanted to rest tonight, climbed the hill in the 12th as Jamo loosened up a little, playing catch with the outfielders and then light-tossing in the pen. Puig greeted Dovy with a drive into that pen to make it 6-5. Ross Stripling strode the bump; the Bucs were out of bench players so Chad Kuhl pinch hit for Dovy, and he rolled one back to the pitcher. Cutch singled and a Freeser bleeder moved him up a station. J-Bell was walked intentionally to get to Max Moroff. Mad Max hit the ball pretty well to right, but Puig gobbled it up and that was the game. Basically, the Bucs went into tonight with four relievers (Neverauskas wasn't supposed to go three-in-a-row yet; Rivero and Kontos were down) and that led to some mystifying decisions by Clint, somewhat clarified by his shortage of arms. Still heckuva way to run a ballclub. With Dovy and Benoit down for Tuesday (and maybe Kontos), we'd expect the Bucs to make a move to shore up the relief corp tomorrow. And it would be nice if the Pirate starters would start holding on to the leads they're getting instead of wearing the pen to a frazzle.

Cutch just keeps on cutchin' (photo Pittsburgh Pirates)

Notes:

• J-Hay continued to tear it up with three hits, two runs and two RBI. Cutch and J-Bell had a knock and a walk, and Starling's hot streak ended with an 0-for-6 evening.
• Tonight was the first time Alex Wood allowed back-to-back homers in his 99-starts career.
• After tonight, LA is 8-2 in overtime, the Bucs 7-9.
• U think Gregory Polanco is hurt a lot? Austin Meadows has missed the last four games due to minor oblique tightness. He is expected back in action shortly.
• @BrianPeloza of Pirates Prospects reports that Indy is going to start working Steven Brault out of the pen, presumably to get him ready for that role in Pittsburgh come September.