Bucs Take Tiger Series 4-2 With Late Two-Out Lightning

Today's Game: Adam Frazier was back to his old tricks, doubling to leadoff the game off Jose Urena's first toss. Bryan Reynolds singled him home an out later to draw first blood. A grounder moved him up and B-Rey plated on Erik Gonzalez's two-out, two-strike knock. And holy moly - Mitch Keller tossed a clean frame. The bottom of the Pittsburgh order was as quiet as a mouse in the second. With two outs, the Tigers banged Mitch for a double and triple before a liner was gloved, making it 2-1. Fraze opened the third with a rap, but a DP erased him and a following walk led to no noise. Detroit went down in order. The Bucs hit a couple of balls hard in the fourth, but on the ground and none got through. Motown banged a two-out single and nada else. Kevin Newman rolled a one-down single into right in the fifth; he was forced by Fraze, who stole second for all of Pittsburgh's action. After fanning the first pair, Kells was banged by ex-Bucco farmhand JaCoby Jones, whose dinger knotted the score. Another single left no more damage. The Bucs made nary a peep in the sixth other than Reynold's fly to the track; Duane Underwood fanned the side around a two-out single.

Mitch has something to smile about today - pirates image 2021

The Toddfather ripped a liner to the track, but it was hauled in to open the seventh as Jones again haunted his former org with a bit of robbery. The next two Pirates also tried out JaCoby with the same lack of success. Akil Baddoo started with a double that was ticketed for the seats before Phils Evans pulled it back but couldn't quite hang on for the catch. A single an out later left Tigers on the corners and brought Sam Howard to the hill. He did the job with a pair of short flies. Jose Cisnero worked the eighth and gave up a one-out rap to who else but Fraze. With two down, Gregory Soto took over to face B-Rey; Soto uncorked a wild pitch and walked Reynolds. Colin Moran singled home a run (a big hopper off the plate into left) and E-Gon another. Chris Stratton got the ball and danced through some hard shots, but allowing just a single through the noise. Alex Lange was waved in for the ninth, and El Coffee greeted him with a rap and steal. A pop and whiff later, lefty Daniel Norris was handed the ball and got Fraze to fly out on a 3-2 pitch. Richard Rodriguez was on auto-pilot in a 1-2-3 close. Raise it.

Kell gave us some hope today; an early lead sure seems to fuel his aggressiveness on the mound (80 pitches in five frames with no walks) and if he can carry that over... 

Notes:

• Fraze had three hits and E-Gon a pair; Reynolds also added a knock with two walks.
• Now to lengthen the order - #1-5 (Fraze, Evans, B-Rey, Redbeard, E-Gon) had seven of the nine Pirate hits and scored/drove in all four runs.
• Adam & Todd became the first pair of Fraziers to play in a Pirates lineup at the same time. Not quite a brother act, but hey...

Todd & Adam Frazier - 2021 photo Pirates

Tomorrow's Game: The Pirates travel to Minnesota and Target Field for an 8:10 game. It will be carried by AT&T SportsNet & 93.7 The Fan. JT Brubaker goes against ol' bud JA Happ.