The Bats Were Willing But the Pitching Weak In 13-10 Bucco Defeat

No luck for the Bucs in the first off Derek Holland, even with a couple of well struck balls that required diving grabs. The Giants led off with a Cutch dinger off Clay Holmes and a hung curve, followed by an infield single. A passed ball and walk put runners on the corners with an out; a following knock made it 2-0. A single brought home another run as the Giants batted around. In the second, a Freeser double and raps by J-Bell & Jordy brought home a run. Holmes held the G-Men to a single in their half, aided by a great snag by Freeser. The Pirates went quietly in the third. San Francisco got a walk and knock around an out, then Holland singled to load the bases with two away. Cutch walked to force home a run, Buster Posey knocked home two more and Casey Sadler was waved on. His first pitch was rapped into right to plate one more Giant and a free pass packed the sacks before the polka ended. The G-Men have seven runs in three innings even with stranding seven runners, yikes!

A Fran-Slam! (photo Dave Arrigo/Pirates)

Cervy and J-Bell singled with an out in the fourth after Freeser lined out, and Jordy doubled in a tally before Sadler bounced out. With the bullpen short a man today after Dovy's demotion, Clint passed up the opp to pinch hit. Sadler got ripped as the Giants added three more scores to the tote board. Freeser knocked home Corey D in the fifth to make it 10-3; SF got it back in their half. The Pirates wasted J-Bell's leadoff two-bagger in the sixth with no noise from the Bay City Bombers. Pittsburgh didn't go quietly into the gentle night; Pierce Johnson gave up a knock, two walks and a granny by Amore to make it 11-7 in the seventh. A single chased him and Sam Dyson gave up another rap, then wild pitched the Bucs up to second and third, but Gregory whiffed to clip the rally. Kyle Crick was a wild child against his old mates, bopping one (which caused some chirping), walking one and tossing two wild pitches to allow another run in.

The Pirates notched a pair against Tony Watson in the eighth, with singles by J-Low and Cervy sandwiched around a Red Beard triple. J-Bell almost made it a one-run game but his drive was gloved at the fence. Ric Rod walked the bases loaded and a single chased home another point.Will Smith took the hill in the ninth and gave up a Hechy homer, but it was too little as San Francisco held on 13-10.

J-Bell had three knocks tonight (image AT&T SportsNet)

If Clay Holmes put up any kind of fight, it wouldn't be an issue, but... The Pirates staff, one-through-five, rolls with 10 runs behind them (in fact, that may be enough runs to win three games). We don't buy the ol' mile high argument, and there is a day off on Monday. Before we take the pitchforks and torches to Clint's office, we'd like to know the real driver behind disrupting the rotation, whether its nagging injuries with a couple of guys, biometrics, the analytic braintrust or whatever. We hope the reasoning was worth throwing away a game. As Clint would say, someone overcooked it.

Notes:

• J-Bell and Cervy had three hits each, with Freeser, Jordy and Hechy chipping in a pair apiece. 
• The Pirates pitchers walked 11 batters tonight, bopped one and threw three wild pitches. Giving up 16 hits didn't help; the Giants batted 21 times with runners in scoring position.
• The two former mateys who started had big days - Cutch homered and was walked four times while Alen Hanson went 3-for-6 with a double.