Bucs Take Opener In 10 Innings 6-4 Behind Bullpen & Two Blasts

Today's Game: Adam Frazier opened with a double and went to third on a fly. With two gone, Drew Smyly hung a curve to Jake Stallings, and he dropped it over the wall in LC for a rare early lead, 2-0. Wil Crowe spun a clean frame. The Bucs went in order in the second; Smyly has four K already. The Bravos bounced back quickly; two singles and a William Contreras blast put them up, 3-2. Fraze singled in the third and was caught stealing after breaking too soon, making for a 1-2-3 frame. A walk and single on a pop that Eric Gonzalez had glance off his glove resulted in an out when the lead runner tried to tip-toe into third. A two-out free pass by Crowe caused no more problems. Jake walked with one gone in the fourth, then E-Gon and Will Craig (Smyly missed tapping the bag covering) singled an out later, but Ben Gamel looked at two strikes, then swung at a ball in the dirt to leave them loaded. After a leadoff double, Smyly legged out an infield single, followed by a four-pitch walk to juice the sacks with two outs, but Wil had enough left to get Freddie Freeman swinging at a full-count change up. The fifth went quietly both ways. 

He's a force of nature so far - 2020 Topps

The game was knotted when Bryan Reynolds led off the sixth with a dinger. The tie lasted nine pitches; Dansby Swanson battled Crowe that long before banging a high heater out of the yard. Clay Holmes was waved in a batter too late and put it to rest. Sean Newcomb was called on for the seventh, and a Gamel rap followed by a wild pitch led to a game-tying, two-out rap by Fraze. Old matey Edgar Santana climbed the hill for the last out. David Bednar took the ball and gave up a harmless flare single. Tyler Matzek answered the bell for the eighth. He fanned a pair and then escaped Gregory's bullet to left that was run down at the edge of the track. Chris Stratton worked a clean frame. Chris Martin toed the slab in the ninth and was tapped for a knock by Craig with one down; he never left first. Richard Rodriguez took it to bonus baseball time. Jacob Webb opened the 10th; Fraze and K-Man greeted him with singles, scoring the ghost runner. B-Rey added a knock to juice the sacks. A force at home was out one and brought Grant Dayton to the mound. Gregory plated an insurance run with a sac fly and Ric Rod spun a quiet frame to close it out. Raise it.

Jake banged his fourth long ball - photo Justin Aller/Getty/Pirates

That Bucco bullpen tossed five innings of one-hit ball and the batters were opportunist tonight, going 6-of-13 with RISP. And the lineup should be lengthened when Ke'Bryan Hayes and Colin Moran come back, though neither guy's return seems imminent. Tonight should help rinse away the sour taste of the St. Louis series.

Notes:

• Fraze had fours hits; B-Rey and Will Craig added a pair each.
• This was Ric Rod;s second two-inning stint of the year; he hasn't allowed a baserunner in either one of them.
• Felipe Vazquez was found guilty of 15 different counts in his statutory sexual assault/abuse trial and not guilty of 10 other charges. An ugly chapter is finally approaching closure.

Tomorrow's Game: Game time is 7:20 and will be on AT&T SportsNet & 93.7 The Fan. It's a braggin' rights match the Andersons, with Pittsburgh's Tyler taking on Atlanta's Ian.