The Pittsburgh Pirates kicked off a six-game west coast trip on Friday night with the first of three games against the Los Angeles Angels. This is only the seventh series all time between these two teams, with each team winning three of the previous six. This game turned into a slug fest, as they would combine to hit eight home runs. Los Angeles would come out on top though with an 8-5 victory.
After three scoreless innings, it would be Pittsburgh that jumped on the board first with a pair of solo home runs in the fourth. The first was a 417ft. home run from Ji Man Choi to right center. The next batter, Henry Davis, would hit a 423ft. dinger to left center. The Angels would answer quickly with five runs in the bottom of the inning. Three of those runs came on a home run from Mike Moustakas and a solo homer from Trey Cabbage would give them their fifth run.
Jack Suwinski cut the Los Angeles lead to one when he hit a 446ft. two-run homer to right in the fifth. Once again, the Angels answered, this time with a pair of homers. A solo shot from Zach Neto and a two-run shot from Taylor Ward. Davis would inch the Pirates a little closer with a 430ft. solo dinger to right center in the sixth.
Johan Oviedo would only last four innings for Pittsburgh. He would allow five runs on three hits with three walks and four strikeouts. Jose Hernandez collected two outs in the fifth, but not before allowing three runs on two hits, with three strikeouts and a walk. One strikeout was dropped and the runner reached base. Dauri Moreta threw 1.1 innings striking out three. Angel Perdomo worked 1.1 innings as well, striking out two and walking one. Yerry De Los Santos collected the last two outs of the eighth, striking out one batter.
Star pitcher Shohei Ohtani would work 6.1 innings, allowing five runs on six hits with nine strikeouts and one walk. He would allow four home runs, which is the most he has allowed in an MLB game. Aaron Loup got out of the seventh inning, allowing one hit. The eighth belonged to Matt Moore who struck out two. Closer Carlos Estevez collected his 22nd save of the year after recording three outs in the ninth, two via strikeout.
This feels like a wasted opportunity for the Pirates after hitting four home runs off Ohtani. Hopefully the offense can keep up this kind of output on the remainder of the trip. Pittsburgh will look to bounce back on Saturday night at 9:07pm in game two of this series. Set to pitch are Osvaldo Bido for Pittsburgh and Reid Detmers for Los Angeles.
Record vs. Angels: 0-1
Record vs. American League: 12-21
Record on the Road: 19-29
Overall Record: 42-55
And…
As Always…
Let’s Go Bucs!
