Stop Us If You've Heard This Before: Buc Bullpen Blows Up in 8-6 Loss

That third out gave Nick Kingham some problems; he gave up a two-out single, double (to Rizzo, yah, shoulda plunked him) and then bopped a batter, but a fly to center finally ended the frame with no damage. The Bucs did some damage in their half. Back-to-back two baggers by Austin Murphy (his was a liner lost in the sun field by Ian Happ) and Starling Marte, followed by a J-Bell knock, made it 2-0. In the second, a one-out Chi-town knock was rectified by a strike 'em out, throw 'em out DP; why Jason Heyward was running with an 0-2 count on the pitcher only Joe Maddon knows. Eli expressed his feelings about yesterday's ado when he smacked the first pitch 420' over the wall. The King was paid back in a way by taking a pitch off the tootsies but no further action resulted. The Cubs all went down on strikes in the third; J-Bell and Freeser hit consecutive singles with one away but were left on the pond. The Windy City got a four-pitch walk in the fourth while Pittsburgh went down in order.

Nick's start would have been fine if he could figure out how to retire the pitcher...
(image source: Positively Pittsburgh)

With an out in the fifth, Lester slapped a down-the-middle heater into right for a knock and Ben Zobrist put an 0-2 slider that hung mid-plate into the stands - note to Nick: get the pitcher out; solo shots don't hurt as much. A fastball to Kyle Schwarber was ripped for a two-bagger; the King is serving up some fat ones this inning. Rizzo was walked intentionally with two gone to get to righty Wilson Contreras and a pitch later, a pop up calmed the seas. AM got one run back when he launched a 3-2 cutter off the back wall of the right center stands. Again in the sixth, Kingham had trouble finding that third out; it was against the bottom of the order and cost him. Jason Heyward doubled and scored on Lester's second hit; he only had two knocks coming into today's game. That brought in Tyler Glasnow, who lost Zobrist but whiffed Schwarber to put out the fire. Lester hung three straight changeups to the Pirates; S-Rod flew out, Eli's rocket was run down in center and Jordy doubled. Colin Moran pinch hit and fanned - on the changeup - to keep it 4-3.

Edgar Santana got the seventh; after a K, he gave up a homer to Rizzo that barely cleared the wall; there was a review for fan interference after a Cub rooter reached over and caught it. On the tube, it looked like it was short of a dinger, but it was close and the NY guys upheld the call. Rizzo should send them a pizza & six-pack after the last two games... But two-or-four bags didn't make any diff on the scoreboard as a single and double plated another run, so he just scored sooner as opposed to later. Another knock brought in an insurance run and Richard Rodriguez was waved in with an out. Santana faced five hitters; all five hit the ball with 100+ MPH exit velocity. Ric Rod settled things down and Carl Edwards Jr. toed the rubber, stranding Starling at second after his two-out double.

Michael Feliz has given up nine runs in his last three innings (photo Pittsburgh Pirates)

Michael Feliz's woes continued in the eighth - double, Schwarber homer, walk, plunked batter - adding a pair to the Cubby swag bag. Steve Cishek grabbed the ball and spun a clean frame. Felipe Vazquez was back in action and got three grounders in the ninth; Brian Duensing gave up back-to-back one-out knocks. Brian Morrow got the call and an AM liner went off a glove for an infield rap to load the sacks. Starling brought a pair home with a knock. J-Bell whiffed chasing a slider in the dirt and Corey D grabbed a bat. He went after the first pitch and popped to shallow left, ending another game with another loss on the North Shore.

The Pirates are 2-of-11 during this recent funk, and while a couple of losses can be chalked up to anemic offense, by our count the bullpen has lost leads in five of the nine losses. We don't know if all the youngsters being kicked up a notch into higher leverage situations since George Kontos was cut is the cause or if they were just due to return to earth with a thud and decided to do it all at once. The starters are beginning to come around and the lineup is still chugging along, and except for the collapse of the relief corps have been playing decent ball; hopefully they'll get with the program before the Pirates in the division's rear view mirror.

Notes:

• Austin Meadows and Starling each had three hits and J-Bell added a pair as the Bucs banged out 13 knocks.

Austin Meadows keeps on keepin' on (Image source: AT&T SportsNet)

• Meadows is hitting .425 with 4 HR over his first 40 at-bats. Per @EliasSports, he is the fifth player since 1961 to do that. The others were Yasiel Puig, Jeff Francoeur, Albert Pujols, & Brian Giles. He's also the first lefty to homer off John Lester this year.
• By the by, Felipe Vazquez hit 100 four times tonight. Guess that pop he felt from his elbow on Sunday was just his arm loosening up.
• Edgar Santana was prob due for a spanking; he had gone 13 outings in May without allowing a run before tonight.
• There were just 11,475 in the ballyard tonight.