Bucs Bumble Way to 7-2 Thumping From the Fish

Dillon Peters fell behind all four Bucco hitters in the first, but a Starling walk and stolen base was the only noise; J-Bell's bid for an RBI was smothered by a shift. Chad Kuhl found the strike zone equally elusive, but the Fish batters took advantage, opening with two singles. Then Kuhl tightened up; a 6-4-3 DP and whiff calmed the waters. A Bucco leadoff walk in the second was erased an out later on a Jordy DP ball. Recent callup JB Shuck (a vet depth OF'er who was a NRI for Miami) smacked a hanging slider into right; Gregory looked like he had it measured but came up short and it ended up a triple. That was followed by a walk, stolen base and a wild pitch - with the pitcher up and two outs - to give the Fish the lead before Chad, now at 44 pitches, could stem the tide only thanks to a sliding grab by Corey D on the chalk. Eli opened the third with a knock and was bunted up. J-Hay had the green light on 3-0 and flew out, followed by a Gregory whiff. Miami got an infield single on a throw that tailed on Jordy, but another DP closed out the frame. Starling legged out a grounder to start the fourth, but was picked off taking an early break on a steal try an out later and the frame fizzled. Shuck is living up to the hype; he singled with two gone, but a 3-0 green light grounder ended it.

Eli was hot & cold with two hits, a homer, and a big throwaway - 2017 Donruss

The Bucs finally lit the scoreboard in the fifth. Corey D led off with a single and an out later, Eli took a knee-high heater yard. One test of a pitcher is how he works with the lead, and Kuhl flunked with some help from his friends. Four knocks, a bunt, a short sac fly and an error (a big one; Eli threw a ball away that allowed two runs to score) gave the Marlins three tallies and the lead. Peters then passed the test with a 1-2-3 sixth frame. Chad stayed on the hill for reasons unknown; he lasted for two more knocks before Kyle Crick was called on for his first Pirates outing. A bunt both cost the Fish the runner at second and the Bucs a run when Crick failed to cover home after Eli fielded the ball. Otherwise, it was a good show by Crick. Tayron Guerrero took the ball in the seventh and Dickerson doubled with an out. With two away, a walk upped the ante, but the Bucs folded. Dovydas Neverauskas came on to throw some gas on the fire by giving up a two-run homer.

Kyle Barraclough took over in the eighth and struck out the side; Dovy escaped with just a walk. Junichi Tazawa turned out the lights in the ninth.

Kyle had a good showing (photo Robbie Rogers/Getty)

The Fish were due; now it's up to the Bucs to take the next two games and the series; Miami is still a bad team. But the way they lost was galling; Gregory had a tough night, missing Shuck's ball and then an opportunity to end the fifth without a run with a good throw on a medium fly ball. His wide toss (which could and should have been cut) was compounded when Diaz threw the relay away.  Chad has to start off with strikes; too many pitches and too many hitters counts are biting him. And Dovydas...geez. That 10.80 ERA is pretty unsightly; he's the Bucs white flag right now. But tomorrow's another day - time to shower off and go get 'em.

Notes:

• Corey Dickerson & Elias Diaz each had a pair of hits. The Pirates only had five on the night.
• Tonight was David Freese's 1,000th MLB game of his 10 big-league seasons.
• The attendance was 6,800+...almost seemed like a home game, except warm. The big screen outside PPG Arena may have had a bigger crowd.
• To pile on, Gerrit Cole became the third pitcher in post-1900 MLB history (since 1900) with 10+ strikeouts in each of his first three starts with a team per @ESPNStatsInfo. He whiffed 14 in seven innings tonight, giving up two runs in his last frame on solo homers. Chris Peixoto of the 'Stros noted that Cole threw 93 pitches and no pitcher in MLB history had ever recorded that many strikeouts in a game with that few pitches.