Gloves & Bats Falter in 4-3 Loss to Giants

The opening frame between Dereck Rodriguez and Joe Musgrove was quiet. The Bucs got on the board in the second on J-Bell and Eli two-baggers while the Giants again went down in order. No noise for Pittsburgh in the third. G-Man Steve Duggar deserves an award; he dropped a single into right after working nine pitches and nicking five straight fouls. He was rewarded when Nick Hundley tripled him home. Big Joe then buckled down with two whiffs and a pop to keep him there. The fourth was another smooth sail for Rodriguez. A well-placed rather than well-struck one-out hustle double and grounder that J-Grove couldn't handle put Giants on the corners and a sac fly put them up. Back-to-back infield knocks (the first should have been an error on J-Bell and was close; Gorkys Hernandez was heads up and took third while Musgrove argued the call) plated one more Bay run. It was as soft of a two-run inning you'll ever see. Eli walked to open the fifth, but the baseball gods had a chuckle with a couple of line outs before J-Grove fanned. Joe returned to form with a couple of K.

Not a lot of luck for J-Grove this afternoon (photo Pittsburgh Pirates)

No luck for the Pirates in the sixth. San Francisco opened with a walk followed by a one-out steal; the peg beat Gorkys to the bag but Jordy muffed the catch for an error. Hernandez was singled home on a flare to center before the gate swung shut. The seventh was another sit 'em down frame for Rodriguez. Edgar Santana took the ball; Jordy misplayed another grounder with two outs but no damage this time around. Reyes Moronta took over in the eighth and walked Fraze. Jordy reached on a bleeder to third and after a K of Freeser, Tony Watson was waved in and fanned Corey D; both David & Corey went down fishing for pitches way off the plate. But Starling came through, banging a two-run two-bagger the opp way. Keone Kela answered the bell and knocked out the Giants. Will Smith came on for the close and got it with no prob.

This was a tough one; Pirate infielders gave this one away. That's no surprise - the only DRS+ guy playing was, yep, Fraze at +4. Coming into the game,  Jordy was -11, while Red Beard & J-Bell were both -8. Big Joe gave up three infield hits and two quails while Jordy's error set up one run and J-Grove's debate with the ump another, so his line was misleading. As for the bats, Rodriguez has a very nice hook, but left a lot of 90-91 MPH four-seamers in the hitting zone that the Bucs just didn't hit. But he's been tough all year, so the heater must have some hidden hop. Still, a series that held promise ended up a disappointing split.

Notes:

• Pittsburgh had just four hits. Eli was the only runner to reach base twice with a knock and a walk.
• The Pirates optioned OF Jordan Luplow to Indy and called up C Jacob Stallings; here we go with three catchers again. The good news was Fran was sound enough to pinch hit today even if not cleared to get behind the dish yet.

Jake Stallings: I'm back...(photo MLB.com)

• The Marlins purchased recently DFA'ed utilityman Chris Bostick. He was assigned to AAA New Orleans.
• Tyler Glasnow as a Tampa Bay Ray: three games, 12 IP, three runs on six hits with three walks and 20 K's. Maybe they frame the pitches a wee bit better in Florida...?
• Ass't GM Kevan Graves, filling in for NH on the Sunday radio show, defended the decision to start Clay Holmes because they had confidence in his arm and because the biometric data showed that starters take longer to recover after a tossing a game at Coors Field.