The Pirates’ offensive woes continued as they lost to Baltimore, 6-3. They’ve now lost ten of their last eleven, and they’re 0-7 against the AL East.
Johan Oviedo came in needing to bounce back from three bad starts. He sort-of got what he needed. It wasn’t pretty, but he managed to survive the first five innings without allowing a run. He threw just 44 of 86 pitches for strikes and walked five, but somehow made pitches when he had to, as the Orioles went 0-for-6 against him with RISP.
Oviedo reached the end of the line in the sixth when he gave up a triple and a walk to start the inning. Dauri Moreta followed and looked like he might put out the fire when he fanned his first hitter and got ahead 0-2 on the next, but he bounced a breaking ball that Austin Hedges couldn’t corral, bringing in a run. Moreta got two more outs without further damage.
The Pirates’ offense, meanwhile, was completely overmatched against Kyle Bradish, who came into the game with a 5.95 ERA. Over five innings they managed just three singles and a walk. They did, however, find the missing element for scoring: the kindness of strangers. Ji-Hwan Bae reached third with one out on a single, wild pitch and ground out. With the infield in, Ke’Bryan Hayes grounded right to short for what should have been an easy out at the plate, but Jorge Mateo fired the throw to the backstop.
In the top of the seventh, the Pirates got that run back when Connor Joe hit his fifth home run of the year off Danny Coloumbe, far back into the stands in left. Coloumbe is a very tough lefty, but Joe had an OPS of 1.147 against LHPs even before the blast.
But that lead didn’t last. Jose Hernandez came on for the bottom half and gave up back-to-back, one-out doubles. That tied the game, 2-2, then Duane Underwood, Jr., came on to allow a go-ahead single, a grounder past short that illustrated Rodolfo Castro’s lack of range for the position.
In the bottom of the eighth, Underwood blew up the game. The leadoff hitter singled off Castro’s glove, then Underwood walked the next batter, with ball four coming on a pitch clock violation. A double play followed, but Underwood walked the next batter. He should have come out at that point, not that there was any possibility of the Pirates scoring in the ninth, but Derek Shelton left him in to give up a three-run home run to Cedric Mullins, which gave Mullins a cycle.
The Pirates went down tamely in the eighth, then got a run in the ninth off the Orioles’ one weak reliever, Austin Voth. That brought in closer Felix Bautista with runners at the corners and nobody out. He easily fanned Joe, Castro and Bae to end it.
