The Pittsburgh Pirates pitching has not been consistently good for much of the season. In fact, it is one of the reasons they have the record that they do. There are a few theories to this problem, lack of talent, poor management, and inability to groom talent from the minors to the majors. Tonight’s 8-6 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies was further proof of that problem as Manager Derek Shelton used mostly bullpen guys and recent callup to cover the eight innings on the mound.
Sam Howard made the start and struck out the side in his only inning of work. Miguel Yajure, who was called up from AAA, allowed three runs on five hits with two strikeouts and two walks during his 3.2 innings on the mound. Shelby Miller gave up one run on two hits with a strikeout and walk during .2 innings of work. That was followed by .2 innings from Nick Mears. Mears would give up a hit and a walk. The seventh inning belonged to Chasen Shreve and he would allow three runs on two hits with a walk and a strikeout. Kyle Keller pitched a scoreless eighth with a strikeout.
The Pittsburgh offense took the lead in the fourth on a Kevin Newman two RBI double to left center. They would add two more runs in the inning on a Michael Perez single to center. After Philadelphia regained the lead in the sixth, the Pirates would battle back for two more runs when Wilmer Difo hit a 363 ft. homer to right. That lead would evaporate in the bottom half of the seventh when Didi Gregorius hit a three-run shot to right for the final runs of the night.
As the Phillies try to stay in the hunt for a postseason berth, Pittsburgh is just looking to avoid reaching that 100-loss mark. I personally think they have no shot of avoiding it at this point with just over a week left in the season and only needing four losses to get there. These cross-state rivals will battle again tomorrow afternoon at 4:05pm from Citizens Bank Park.
Record vs. Phillies: 2-3
Record vs. N.L. East: 16-16
Record on the Road: 23-55
Overall Record: 57-96
And…
As Always…
Let’s Go Bucs!
