Bucs Blasted 12-4

It was a quiet first; Max Scherzer had a 1-2-3 start and Chad Kuhl stranded a walk. The Buccos left Cervy at second after a two-out double in the second while DC went down in order. It was a quiet third for Pittsburgh while Washington got on the board via a solo homer by Wilmer Difo, who bopped a 3-2 sinker over the RC fence. A two-out boot was rectified by Cervy with a CS. The Pirates got their second hit in the fourth, a two-out single by J-Bell, but Scherzer got Corey D to ground out after a nine-pitch battle. Matt Adams hit a big fly to lead off, launching a 1-0 slider deep to right. The Pirates drew a walk in between three whiffs in the fifth. With one away, Red Beard booted his second ball of the game, a grounder by Scherzer, followed by an eight-pitch walk. So put on two runners w/o a hit ahead of Bryce Harper and what happens? Yah, the Nat's third homer, and now at 5-0 it's about mail-in time. To rub it in, Adams drilled another bomb with two outs to bring on Tyler Glasnow to get the third out.

Chad had the long ball blues tonight (photo Pittsburgh Pirates)

The pain continued. In the sixth, the Pirates went down without a peep. For DC, a single and stolen base came in when Scherzer singled with two outs. That was followed by two walks and a bases-clearing double by Trea Turner, who scored on Adam's knock, also KO'ing Tyler. Richard Rodriguez came on, threw a wild pitch and gave up another single to make it 12-0. J-Bell opened the seventh with a walk and jogged home ahead of Corey D's dinger, another two-strike, choked up bomb. Wander Suero took the ball and was nicked for back-to-back knocks by Red Beard and Jordy to put Bucs on the corners with an out but SOP, they left them there. The Nats had a quiet frame. In the eighth against Sammy Solis, Pittsburgh got a two-out double by J-Bell (hopefully he's snapping out of it), who was left standing. Washington wasted a leadoff single. Carlos Torres toed the rubber in the ninth; he surrendered a double to Colin and a bomb to Mad Max but had plenty of cushion to close out the night.

Max joined Corey D in home run derby night (photo Joe Guzy/Pirates)

Three of the National's four homers v Chad were off sinkers; there's been a clamor among the pundit class to expand Kuhl's toolkit and work in the slider more; this seems like a good time to revisit that thought. And in this series, the bottom of the order has hurt the Pirates; we suspect that's a matter pf poor focus. It's hard enough to deal with Harper, Turner and Adams w/o the rest of the gang chirping. As for Scherzer, nothing fancy - the Buc bats are struggling and he challenged them by filling up the dish, working up-and-down, without much fear of reprisal. And it's off the face Stephen Strasburg tomorrow...

Notes:

• J-Bell and Colin Moran each had two hits and a walk; no other Bucco reached base more than once.
• Amore has caught 6-of-14 attempted base stealers this year. That's a 43% throw-out rate compared to just 20% last year (and 19% in 2016). He caught Trea Turner, who had swiped 12-in-a-row this season.
• Joe Musgrove worked three innings for Bradenton in his first rehab start. He gave up two runs on five hits, walked none and struck out two after tossing 36 pitches.
• Jung Ho Kang reported to Pirate City. The first order of business is to get him up to speed physically, so it looks like a lot of jogging, tossing and BP are in his immediate future.