The Pittsburgh Pirates hit the road Friday night to begin a five-game road trip, with the first of those three against the Baltimore Orioles. Pittsburgh entered the game having dropped nine of their last ten games, while Baltimore holds the third best record in Major League Baseball. When it was all said and done the Orioles would come away with a 6-3 victory.
After two scoreless innings, the Pirates jumped on the board first in the third inning when Ji Hwan Bae scored on a fielder’s choice by Ke’Bryan Hayes. That lead would last until the sixth when Ryan Mountcastle came home on a wild pitch by Dauri Moreta. Connor Joe put Pittsburgh back in the lead with a 413 ft. solo home run down the left field line in the seventh.
Baltimore struck for two runs in the seventh to take the lead for good. A double from Adley Rutschman drove home Cedric Mullins. Rutschman then came around to score when Mountcastle singled to center. The Orioles got some insurance runs in the eighth when Mullins smacked a three-run home run. The homer was the final piece he needed to hit for the cycle. The Pirates added one more run in the ninth when Jack Suwinski hit a single to right center that scored Andrew McCutchen.
Johan Oviedo threw five innings for Pittsburgh tonight. He would allow one run on four hits with five walks and three strikeouts. Moreta followed him in the sixth and struck out one batter. Jose Hernandez would collect only one out in the seventh, giving up two runs on two hits during that time. Duane Underwood Jr. pitched the remainder of the seventh and all the eighth. He allowed three runs on three hits with two walks and one strikeout.
Baltimore starter Kyle Braddish went six innings, allowing one run, zero earned, on three hits with six strikeouts and one walk. Danny Coulombe collected the first two outs of the seventh, before Bryan Baker struck out two over the next 1.1 innings. After Austin Voth failed to get an out, and allowed a run, Felix Bautista would strike out all three batters he faced to earn his ninth save.
With the loss tonight, the Pirates still have only one win in the month of May. The blame for their losing ways as of late do not come down to just one thing, it has been a total team effort unfortunately. Hopefully the offense, defense, pitching, and coaching can pull it together on Saturday for the second game of this series. Roansy Contreras will take on Tyler Wells. First pitch is at 7:05pm
Record vs. Orioles: 0-1
Record vs. American League: 6-10
Record on the Road: 11-9
Overall Record: 21-18
And…
As Always…
Let’s Go Bucs!
