Being a fan of the Pittsburgh Pirates is frustrating enough. It is even more frustrating when the starting pitching gives you four solid outings and they only come away with one win. That was the case today in a 2-0 defeat to the Miami Marlins. With the win Miami claimed the series and continue their climb in the NL East, while Pittsburgh continues to slide in the NL Central.
There was not much offense in this game, and the little there was belonged to the Marlins. A solo home run by Jonathan Davis in the third inning would end up being the game winning run. Miami added an insurance run in the eighth when Yuli Gurriel grounded a ball off pitcher Carmen Mlodzinski’s leg into rightfield to plate Bryan De La Cruz.
Both teams received solid pitching from their starters today. The Pirates got seven innings out of Johan Oviedo. He would allow one run on six hits with six strikeouts. Due to the lack of offense, he was saddled with his eighth loss of the season. Ryan Borucki had a rough 1/3 of an inning in the eighth allowing one run on two hits. He was replaced by Mlodzinski for the final two outs.
Eury Perez pitched six innings for the Marlins, allowing four hits to go with nine strikeouts and one walk. Steven Okert pitched a scoreless seventh, striking out two batters, before Andrew Nardi replaced him in the eighth. He would allow one hit to go with one strikeout. After blowing a save on Saturday, A.J. Puk rebounded to earn his 11th save of the season on Sunday.
With the absolute pitiful display of offense for Pittsburgh as of late, one wonders if it is time to make a change at hitting coach to shake things up. Andrew McCutchen led the team with two of their five hits on the afternoon. The Pirates will head home and have an off day on Monday before starting a three-game series at PNC Park against the San Diego Padres Tuesday evening.
Record vs. Marlins: 1-3
Record vs. N.L. East: 5-5
Record on the Road: 17-23
Overall Record: 35-42
And…
As Always…
Let’s Go Bucs!
