Willie had no help, but still wasn't very sharp tonight (photo Pittsburgh Pirates) |
J-Hay opened the third with a single; a 405' flyout by Corey D was followed by a grounder and pop. A walk, triple and sac fly by the Rattlers rubbed some more salt in the wound. Eli and J-Bell started the fourth with a double/single combo and catcher's interference packed the sacks. A plunk, walk and sac fly brought home three runs; Starling's two-out, three-run homer off a 3-1 heater made it interesting at 8-6. S-Rod went to short; apparently Jordy was dinged up by his bopping. Steven Brault came in and gave up a knock and a walk. Two later singles reclaimed a pair of the runs for the Snakes. Silvino Bracho came in for the fifth, and a walk, J-Bell double and grounder (dogged, btw, by Gregory; if he wasn't hurt, he should have been sat) plated another Bucco run. Steven cruised; a two-out walk was erased by Eli via a caught swiping.
Fernando Salas took his turn in the sixth; a single, another GIDP and liner made it an easy frame. Arizona went down in order. Red Beard kicked off the seventh with a double and an out later, lefty Andrew Chafin was called on. J-Bell welcomed him with his second double to make it 10-8; he moved to third on a wild pitch before Freeser walked with two outs. Yoshihisa Hirona, a righty, took the ball to face S-Rod and got him on a grounder. Dovydas Neverauskas answered the bell. Starling made a nice grab of a liner, and that was followed by a knock and a walk. Jon Jay homered on a two-out hung curve as Dovy was pounded for a second straight outing - he got two outs and gave up two runs last night - and that made it a comfortable 13-8 edge for 'Zona.
Michael Feliz put up a zero! (photo Pittsburgh Pirates) |
J-Hay blooped a single to open the eighth. After Starling lined out to right for the second out (karma making up for Josh's dink), righty change-up guy Braden Shipley came in to face Colin and fanned him, getting two strikes on changes and then blowing a fastball past him. Michael Feliz was tossed into the mix and served up a clean inning, ending a streak of six outings that he was scored against. It took six pitches to say goodnight to the Pirates. Some bad ball luck and terrible fielding put the Bucs in a deep hole from the gate and the relievers kept on leaking runs. Fix. The. Bullpen.
Notes:
- J-Bell had his first three-hit day since April 15th. J-Hay added three knocks and Starling a pair, including a three-run bomb.
- Steven Brault struck out for the first time in his MLB career (35 plate appearances) and of course it came with a runner at third.
- Starling Marte told @RobBiertempfel of The Athletic that his oblique still acts up occasionally when he's swinging, but he can play through it.
- Pittsburgh lost its eighth straight series.
- The game finished four minutes shy of four hours.
- The Bucs came into today with a -33 DRS (Defensive Runs Saved). They're the only NL Central team in negative numbers; the Cubs have a +39 and the Brewers lead the majors with +50.
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