It’s not easy being a fan of the Pittsburgh Pirates and for the past week that point has been proven. After dropping game one of a doubleheader against the St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday, they would come out flat in game two and fall 9-1. They were nearly no hit by St. Louis starter Miles Mikolas, until a ninth inning two out hit by Cal Mitchell.
Mikolas threw 8.2 innings and gave up one run on one hit with one walk and six strikeouts. That lone run came in the fourth when Bryan Reynolds scored on a groundout by Daniel Vogelbach. The Cardinals brought out Packy Naughton to collect the final out of the game. This was after Mikolas threw 129 pitches.
St. Louis hit Pittsburgh starter Bryse Wilson early and often. Wilson allowed seven runs on ten hits with three strikeouts and one walk. Tommy Edman hit a solo home run in the first inning and that was followed by a two-run homer from Paul Goldschmidt. In the second Brendan Donovan got it started with an RBI single to right. Goldschmidt struck again with a three-run homer to put the Cardinals up seven.
With Anthony Banda on the mound, St. Louis would add two more runs in the sixth on a two RBI double by Nolan Gorman. Banda allowed two runs on three hits with one strikeout. Heath Hembree pitched a scoreless seventh, striking out and walking one batter. The eighth belonged to David Bednar and he would allow one hit and a walk.
There is a lot of finger pointing going on during this losing streak. Fans are upset at the front office and coaching staff for not putting together a quality team and not making the right in game moves. The fact of the matter is that this team is in the building phase and these young players are going through growing pains. This series will wrap up tomorrow night, and the Pirates will hope to avoid a double-digit losing streak.
Record vs. Cardinals: 1-8
Record vs. N.L. Central: 9-22
Record on the Road: 11-20
Overall Record: 24-37
And…
As Always…
Let’s Go Bucs!
