Can't Hit, Can't Catch, Can't Win: Bucs Lose 5-1, Drop Bravo Series

Julio Teheran walked Gregory and J-Bell with two outs (Starling kept up the Pirate's latest thing, flying out 382' to) the wall and it cost him when Red Beard singled El Coffee home. It took two pitches for the Bravos to even up when Ronald Acuna Jr. took Nick Kingham deep. Ender Inciarte also singled in a frame featuring a couple of smoked outs off The King. There was no second inning noise from Pittsburgh and Nick settled in with a pair of whiffs against the Braves. The clubs exchanged hits in the third with no damage. The Pirates got a leadoff knock in the fourth; an out later, rookie Kevin Newman joined the DP society of Pittsburgh. Atlanta went down without a peep. In the fifth, Teheran gently tucked the Pirates in. The Bravos lost a hit on review; Red Beard's throw did beat the runner. That was followed by a flair single by Dansby Swanson, who was bunted up and stranded at second after Jordy's diving stop of a spanked ball by Acuna, with a nice one-hop snag by J-Bell on the throw. Fraze joined the 380' line out club to start the sixth followed by a pair of more mundane put-aways. Steven Brault got the call with three lefties up while Jose Osuna took first in a double switch. The southpaw spun a clean frame.

The King had a typically rough start but settled in nicely after the first (photo Pgh Pirates)

Moran opened the seventh with his third hit; Jordy rolled into a 4-6-3 DP and it was a 1-2-3 frame. Atlanta got a one-out infield knock, then Jordy booted the third out, leaving Braves at second and third; tough frame for the SS. No sweat; Brault fanned Adam Duvall. Dan Winkler got the eighth. After a leadoff rap by Jacob Stalling, he served a pair of fly outs. Lefty Johnny Venters came on to face Fraze, who reached on a misplay by Swanson at short, but he got Gregory on a soft fly to left. Acuna singled on a soft serve to center and was bunted up; he came home after a bunt and Newman's error at second (a routine grounder that went right between his legs) on Freddy Freeman's ball. That was followed by a walk and an infield knock. Ozzie Albers dropped a bloop single on an 0-2 pitch that fell between Newman and Polanco to plate another run. Dovy Neverauskas was waved in (a sure sign Clint has hoisted the white flag) and after a K, tossed a wild pitch to send another Brave home. A single made it a runaway before the third out. Brad Brach took the hill in the ninth; the Bucs, per their MO, hit into a couple of hard outs but outs they were in a three up, three down ending.

Pittsburgh has had some lousy ball luck, but unless they find a way to launch some baseballs for easy runs instead of banging into GIDPs and put together an infield that's not a sieve, it's gonna be a long month. Hopefully the guys who will get the call up will show up a little stronger than Kevin Newman and Dovy Neverauskas have.  Newman, of course, has a small sample size but looks lost in the early going, but Dovy...geez. He has a 10.06 ERA and has been scored on in 10 of 16 outings with just three clean appearances.

Notes:

• Colin Moran had three hits and a line out in four trips to the plate; Gregory had a knock and a walk. The club had five hits.
• The Pirates 80 wild pitches lead the majors. The most in the Central Division after the Bucs are the Cards with 50. It's just another little thing on the wrong side of the ledger.
• Steve Brault went 11-2/3 scoreless innings since his recall before a soft parade caught up to him tonight.
• Ronald Acuña Jr. has hit 10 home runs since August 11th. The Pirates have hit eight home runs since August 11th (s/o to @adamberry).
• Clint said the big reason Hechy got a long look at short in Jordy's absence was to help the Pirates evaluate him up close and personal as he'll be an affordable free agent this winter if the Bucs shop for a vet infielder. We note that they could always resign Freeser, too, as both are in their walk years, but the Bucs are going to look at Jose Osuna to fill Freeser's role this month.