SAINT PETERSBURG, Fla. – Mistakes are part of the game of baseball. They’re not always called errors, but no team goes a game without making a wrong move.
When you’re playing the best team in baseball, mistakes will cost you the game. That’s what happened tonight when the Pirates lost to the Rays 4-1.
“There’s not a lot of room for error,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said after the game. “We left 11 guys on base. We didn’t execute with runners in scoring position, and you just can’t do that.
The Pirates managed five hits, but had six walks. They went up against seven different pitchers tonight, with the Rays going with a bullpen game. That prevented the Pirates offense from getting into a rhythm tonight.
Roansy Contreras was cruising along until those mistakes showed up in the fifth and sixth innings.
In the fifth, Contreras got Jose Siri to pop fly to center field. Rodolfo Castro ran back from short, and Jack Suwinski ran in from center field. The ball ended up falling between the two, with Suwinski losing track of it in the white roof on the Trop. Had that been caught, the Pirates may have escaped the inning with no damage, still tied 1-1.
Instead, Manuel Margot advanced to second on the missed pop fly, and scored on a single to right-center. The Rays then added a second run on a successful double steal, with Hedges firing down to second from his knees, allowing Siri to break from third and easily beat the return throw home.
The Pirates weren’t the only ones making mistakes. In the sixth inning, Hedges was up with runners at second and third and one out. The situation was created after Tucupita Marcano pinch hit and sacrificed the runners over with a bunt. During the at-bat to Hedges, Ryan Thompson had what the Pirates felt was a balk. If called, it would have made the score 3-2, with a runner at third and one out.
“The umpires told me they missed it,” said Shelton, who went out to argue the call.
Hedges struck out, followed by a strikeout from Hayes to end the inning and the biggest scoring threat the Pirates had.
“I still should have got the job done and got a guy in, but it happens,” said Hedges.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, former Pirates prospect Harold Ramirez hit a solo homer to left-center, putting the game further out of reach for the Rays, who improved to 24-6 on the year.
Contreras finished the day with 5.1 innings, allowing four runs on six hits, with four walks and three strikeouts. He was backed up by Dauri Moreta and Yohan Ramirez, who combined for 2.2 shutout innings to close out the game.
“I feel like I got myself in big counts tonight that got me a little bit in trouble,” said Contreras through an interpreter. “They were able to capitalize, but we couldn’t do that thing on our part.”
The Pirates had five hits on the day, with two each coming from Bryan Reynolds and Connor Joe — who are separated by three guys in the order who went 0-for-10.
This is the toughest matchup the Pirates have faced in this young season. They held their own for a bit, but mistakes cost them and they couldn’t capitalize on the limited advantages they had. With the loss, the Pirates drop to 20-10 on the season. Mitch Keller will take the mound tomorrow in game two against the Rays.
