It has been a season of many lows, but has also included moments of pure exhilaration.
On Wednesday afternoon the Pittsburgh Pirates were able to take an early lead by way of Greg Allen’s legs. Allen reached base on a single to RF and then moved to second on a Jason Delay single. He would then scamper to third by way of a Brandon Woodruff wild pitch and scored on a subsequent Victor Caratini passed ball.
This lead would be short lived as Caratini would get the run back after leading off the third inning with a solo homerun against Zach Thompson.
The game would remain tied until the 5th inning when Thompson ran into trouble and was unable to complete the fifth. Hunter Renfroe started the inning with a double and after a groundout Mike Brosseau would take a Thompson cutter to opposite field for a go-ahead two-run homerun. Thompson walked Jonathan Davis and his day was over. Thompson had looked as another example of the Pirates starting pitchers seeing a mid-season turnaround, but he has had trouble regaining his mid-season form and now surrendered 17 ERs in 15.1 IP across three starts.
The bullpen would have another effective day covering 5.2 innings in total and only allowing one unearned run. Eric Stout — who entered for Thompson in the fifth and limited the damage — ended up throwing 1.2 scoreless innings with two strikeouts, a walk and a hit. Yohan Ramirez would make his Pirates debut throwing a scoreless inning in the seventh with two strikeouts of his own and one hit against.
After Ramirez’s scoreless seventh the Pirates would do what they’ve done best over the previous two days and stage a comeback. Greg Allen set the table again with a walk (which also had a weird situation that ended with Christian Yelich and manager Craig Counsell being tossed mid Allen’s PA) to lead off the inning. With one out Jason Delay would once again single and Allen making it to 3B. This set up Tucupita Marcano — fresh off a 3-4 day yesterday — who was able to come through in a 1-2 count with a RBI single to LF. Ben Gamel then singled with two outs to tie the game at three.
Both bullpens would trade scoreless innings after the Pirates tied the game pushing it into extras.
Duane Underwood Jr. got the first two batters out without allowing the runner to advance to 3B. After a decision to intentionally walk Rowdy Tellez with two outs and first base open, Underwood lost his command and walked Andrew McCutchen on four pitches. After coming back from a 3-1 count, Underwood would hit Kolten Wong with a 3-2 pitch pushing across the go-ahead run before getting Renfroe to lineout to end the inning.
This would prove to be of no concern for the Pirates as the, once again, Hader-less Brewers had to face Bryan Reynolds to lead off the bottom of the inning for the second night in a row. Reynolds showed urgency hitting a ground-rule double to RF off a first-pitch curveball. The Brewers then decided to take their own chances of intentionally walking a batter before getting Ke’Bryan Hayes to fly out for the first out of the inning. Liking their odds with intentional walks the Brewers then decided to walk Oneil Cruz to load the bases with one out. Up next was Michael Chavis who looked ready for the big moment before Matt Bush bounced an 0-2 curveball that found it’s way to the backstop allowing the game to end in similar fashion as Tuesday night with Reynolds crossing the plate for the winning run. This time due to being on third and scoring on a wild pitch.
The Pirates now take their three game winning streak on the road to face the Baltimore Orioles with hopes of matching their season high four-game winning streak.
Pirates @ Orioles
Time: 7:05 PM EST
Pirates Starter: Mitch Keller (3-7, 4.37)
Orioles Starter: Dean Kremer (3-3, 3.86)
Keller Notes: Mitch Keller finished the month of July with a 2.61 ERA across five starts covering 31.0 IP. He was also able to complete at least six innings in all five starts. This will be his 19th start of the season as he looks to continue this strong stretch since the middle of May.
LINEUPS:
Pirates
In Baltimore for the weekend.#LetsGoBucs pic.twitter.com/EQYl6j1Tos
— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) August 5, 2022
Orioles
1. Cedric Mullins (L) CF
2. Adley Rutschman (S) C
3. Anthony Santander (S) RF
4. Ryan Mountcastle (R) 1B
5. Terrin Vavra (L) DH
6. Ramon Urias (R) 3B
7. Rougned Odor (L) 2B
8. Jorge Mateo (R) SS
9. Brett Phillips (L) LF
