Bucs Get It All Out of Their System; Bad Pitching, Fielding & Hitting Result In 10-0 Thumping

The first inning was quiet enough; Jameson Taillon and Jon Lester were each tapped for a walk and nada else. Melky singled in the second, but was left when Kevin Newman's liner was pulled in at the track in straightaway center. Newman made a two-out, two base error in the second on a routine grounder that was thrown away. That was followed by an intentional walk to get to Lester, and he made the Bucs pay with a double to plate a run. Ben Zobrist bounced a ball into right, and it was 3-0. A plunked batter was followed by an Anthony Rizzo single, a liner off Jamo's mitt and noggin - he's OK after being checked out - and into center, to score another. Javier Baez threw his bat at a pitch that bounced in front of the dish, and dropped it over Newman's head after he initially turned the wrong way. It got worse; K-Man booted another ball and then threw it away. So it's 6-0, and Jamo finished the frame but is done for the day after 58 pitches. Steven Brault replaced him, both at bat and on the hill, and led off the third with a single. Fraze followed with a rap against Brad Bach (Lester hurt his hammy sliding into home in the second), but a Starling GIDP and Cervy whiff killed the frame. Even with a DP to help him, Steven gave up a pair to the Cubs (couple of doubles, bunt single, walk) to make an ugly game a little uglier.

K-Man had his inning from heck today - 2017 Bowman Prospects

The Bucs got a walk and a knock with an out in the fourth, but a pair of K's finished it off. A single off of Newman's mitt was followed by a Kyle Schwarber homer kept the beat going. Brandon Kitzler answered the fifth inning call and got a couple of more whiffs to go with bopping Starling. Brault got a walk and a whiff; the K was after a 10-pitch battle with Anthony Rizzo and ran the pitch count to 74 after three frames. The Pirates went quietly in the sixth and Frankie Liriano drew the short straw. He, Nick Burdi, and the Cubbies Randy Rosario & Pedro Strop moved the game along without further damage, and it finished 10-0.

Days like this happen, mama said, and not much to read into it. We kinda wonder if K-Man just had a bad day (he's considered a steady, if not very rangy or rifle-armed, SS) or if the time spent trying to master second, short and the outfield lately has him in a bit of a jumble. At any rate, he contributed three of four Buc errors (you can always count on Colin Moran to boot a ball, too), allowing six unearned runs to cross the dish, although the key to that was Jamo's inability to get Jon Lester. Pittsburgh stranded nine runners and fanned 12 times, so it was a team effort.

Notes:

• Abraham Nunez committed three errors for the Pirates in the eighth inning against the Cubs on 9/5/1998, the last time a Bucco had the Kevin Newman one-inning hat trick. (S/O to John Dreker of Pirates Prospects)
• Chicago may only have three wins, but they've scored 10+ runs in five of their first 10 games, a franchise first, per Christopher Kamka of NBC Sports Chicago.
• Don't know if it's good or bad, but tomorrow is an off day, then the clubs crank it up again Wednesday.