Bucs Go Quietly Into the Night 6-1

Stephen Strasburg had a calm first; Gerrit Cole was lucky to get out with a run after three singles and a double. He was saved by a liner-back-the-box DP and a Marte-Rodriguez-Diaz cutdown at home. Strasburg was strong; he struck out five-of-six in the second & third and didn't give up a hit until the fifth when Gregory singled off 1B Ryan Zimmerman's mitt. The wheels fell off in the sixth. The Nats strung together three singles in four at-bats off Cole Train to plate a run and bring in AJ Schugel. He was tagged for a homer, walk and knock before Johnny Barbato was waved in to pull the plug. Strasburg and Angel Sanchez traded zeroes in the seventh. Stephen walked a couple of Bucs in the eighth to run his pitch count up to 98, so Ollie Perez (yes, the one and same) strolled in to put out the fire. Dan Runzler took his turn and Zimmerman took him long. Then Jason Werth did the same. Wade LeBlanc was reintroduced to the mound (it's his first appearance since September 13th) and punched out Matt Wieters for the third out. Matt Grace gave up a Starling single and Cutch double to lose the shutout but not the game.

Starling may be the only Buc sad to see the season end... (photo Dave Arrigo/Pirates)

Another very meh performance by Cole Train (his final 2017 line is 12-12, 4.26), backed not at all by the bats, though, of course, Mr. Strasburg does make hitters besides the Pirates look silly. Ah well, two games to go and then...well, that's the question, right?

Notes:

• Starling again had two hits, as many as the rest of the team together.
• Some Bucs visited Walter Reed before the game to mingle with the patients, with the group consisting of several coaches and players Stew, S-Rod, Trevo and Steven Brault.
• Derek Jeter fired several more Marlin honchos, including pitch doctor Jim Benedict who was pirated from Pittsburgh in 2015; the Fish sent Trevo here as compensation. We wouldn't worry too much about Benedict, though; he'll land on his feet and quickly. The new bosses also canned Marc DelPiano, who left Pittsburgh about the same time to become the Miami overlord of player development. Mike Berger, a Central Catholic HS grad and Oakmont resident who was the assistant GM was also deep-sixed.