Reynolds Blast Enough To Carry Pirates to 6-5 Victory Over Brew Crew, Series Win

Mike Moustakas legged out an infield hit (not a typo; the Bucs can't get him out) and Yasmani Grandal doubled off a fat 0-2 fastball with an out (it almost left the yard; a review kept him on second). It ended up a big call when Joe Musgrove left them both aboard after a K and a nifty bit of fielding by K-Man. Fraze opened with a rap off Chase Anderson for the only early damage. It was a quiet second for Milwaukee. Redbeard tripled to The Notch with one away for the Bucs and K-Man's knock plated Colin. Jake singled Newman to third on a hit-and-run, then Big Joe's squeeze brought home another tally; small ball to perfection. Oh, and we must be home - it's starting to drizzle. Joe's a mudder; he tossed a clean, seven-pitch third, even getting Moustakas on an at 'em ball to Melky. There was no noise from Pittsburgh either after J-Bell was rung up on an iffy 3-2 call. Big Joe's sitting at 51 pitches after four frames following another 1-2-3 round. K-Man singled with two gone and stole second; Jake was then walked intentionally before Musgrove K'ed. In the fifth, Jesus Aguilar cut the lead in half when his liner had just enough legs to reach the first row in the LF bleachers. Joe then returned to regular programming as a second wave of rain rolled through.

An inning too long for Big Joe - photo Pittsburgh Pirates

The Pirates answered quickly with back-to-back doubles by Fraze and Bryan Reynolds off Alex Claudio. J-Bell walked an out later, but Melky's comebacker became an easy twin killing. The umps then called for the tarps; the rain was beginning to puddle on the infield. The storm passed through quickly and Big Joe was back on the hill after a 40-minute blow for the sixth. Grandal doubled the oppo way with two down and was left on the pond. Corbin Burnes took the ball and fanned a pair in an easy frame. Joe came out for the seventh (he's at 77 pitches) but Clint had the pen gang warming up. Eric Thames walked after being in an 0-2 hole and Aguilar homered again on the eighth pitch of an extended at bat to tie the game; Clint overplayed his hand with Big Joe again, it seems, trying to milk an extra inning. Frankie came on and gave up a walk before settling into a groove. Junior Guerra got the ball and walked call-up Kevin Kramer. Fraze followed with a knock and Bryan Reynolds provided an exclamation point by cranking a 3-2 sinker into the RC bleachers. Two whiffs and a walk later, Jeremy Jeffress was waved in. Redbeard hustled out a soft infield roller before the frame closed.

Fraze is lovin' leadoff - photo Pittsburgh Pirates

Kyle Crick who hasn't worked since the 2nd, got the eighth inning call. He walked Moustakas and an out later. Keston Hiura popped a pitch that was off the plate and pushed it the oppo way, where it carried over the short porch in right to make it 6-5. After a K (against LH Eric Thames) took him to 21 pitches, Clint called on Felipe (JHK was double switched in to cover the nine spot)to face Aguilar, who was late on a heater but got enough to drop it into right for a single. Mauricio Dubon got his first big league at bat and turned it into a foul fest before bouncing out. No safety net was provided as the Pirates went down in order. Felipe gave up a rap to open the ninth, but a whiff and 4-6-3 DP (which was challenged before upheld) put it to bed. Raise the Roger.

Clean fielding, three run bombs and just enough pitching gave the Bcs another series; they needed to take the Buc/Brewer sets to be relevant, and they did. The Pirates are 2-1/2 games (two in the loss column) behind the Cubs at the break, a nice gain considering that they were five back when the Cubs opened the homestand on July 1st.

Three outs? Four outs? Who counts? Who cares?  - photo Pirates promotion

Notes:

• Fraze had three hits, with Bryan R, Redbeard and K-Man adding a pair. Reynolds added four RBI, his biggest day in the MLB. He had three RBI in a game three times prior to today. Kinda hard to believe, but at .274, Starling has the lowest BA of the eight positional players in this afternoon's lineup. 
• Joe Musgrove has started the seventh inning 11 times and made it to the eighth twice; his ERA in that frame is 8.59. On the bright side, Big Joe's squeeze bunt gave him his first MLB RBI.
• Christian Yelich has missed the past couple of games with a cranky back; it bothered him enough that he bowed out of the HR Derby.
• The Brew Crew stole a handful of strike calls today that the Bucs didn't get, but we wouldn't fault the ump DJ Reyburn quite as much as credit Yasmani Grandal, one of the elite pitch-framers in MLB. Jake's pretty good at it and easily the best of the Bucs, but he's got a ways to go to catch up to Grandal.
• The paid count at PNC today was a disappointing 17,624.
• At DKPittsburghSports, Dejan Kovacevic posted a short piece that says Cervy is done catching (free article) and hopes to begin a rehab stint after the ASG.
• On his radio show, Neal Huntington says he's not pushing any sales and is a little wary of buying to strengthen the club. He also all but confirmed DK's story, saying about Fran that “We have to be open to first base or third base or right field — a bat off the bench or maybe he becomes a regular at one of those.” He made the point that the decision was Cervelli's and the team supported it.
• Indy 3B Ke'Bryan Hayes took a pitch off the helmet against Toledo. He was OK, but the beaning triggered a bench-clearing dance, with some punches tossed between the cha-cha.
• The Futures Game is tonight at Progressive Field, and Indy's 1B Will Craig is starting. Game time is 7 and it's on MLB Network.