As I type this, the Pirates are up 1-0 on a Bryan Reynolds home run. I sat staring at my screen for about half an hour, delaying posting this.
I’ve worked at home for far too long. 16 years. My current situation never allows for more than 30 minutes of consecutive work before I’m harassed by a cat or drawn away to a life problem to address. The site has suffered in terms of missing my work.
For about two years now, I’ve tried many different simulations on how to do this site — some without me completely. It’s probably driven the writers here crazy. Maybe the long-time readers. It’s given me information. Like how I’ll never be able to run this site the way I really want to from home. I’ll never find the consistency needed. I don’t have a home field advantage. I have the exact opposite.
The alternate to telling you all of this reality from the site producer angle is me bullshitting through some intro an hour ago and feigning interest in this game. I hope the Pirates win, but these west coast trips from a site producer standpoint end up being hell, and I hate all things baseball by the end of it. I have about 2% left to give this site a serious effort today, before I crash and start from 42% tomorrow. For those of you staying up and following, I hope you enjoy!
PIRATES (40-45) AT LOS ANGELES
Game Time: Ungodly PM EST
Pirates Starter: Osvaldo Bido (Irrelevant in the present)
Dodgers Starter: Some dude that Bryan Reynolds homered off of (He grounded out in the second at-bat)
Pirates Lineups:
Twitter probably won’t even let you see the Tweet.
Dodgers Lineups:
I can’t believe so many media members put so much focus into producing content to still break it on Twitter for social media exposure in the year 2023 of our lord.
DAILY PIRATES NEWS
**We’ve got a lot of articles on the site today. I’ve been all day in the mindset of Pirates articles. I couldn’t tell you what any of them are about to make them interesting. You probably shouldn’t read any of them. But here they are, without any fanfare. Just links, like it’s 1997, and we’re on Geocities.
**Pirates Option Luis Ortiz; Recall Yohan Ramirez
**Prospect Watch: Will Matthiessen and Jase Bowen Each Drive in Five Runs in Greensboro Loss
**Pirates Prospects Daily: Jack Suwinski’s Eye, Josh Palacios Dance, Paul Skenes
**Pirates Roundtable: What is the argument for Paul Skenes first overall?
**It actually wasn’t a lot of articles. I was just working on some articles behind the scenes, and lose track of what day it is after the fifth cat fight, the third feeding, the second article scheduled, and I’m now at 1%. Time to hand the ball to Wilbur Miller before the fifth inning and recharge with Secret Invasion.
More Recent Pirates Features
7/2: Derek Shelton’s Difficult Job
6/30: Williams: Tathata and the Present Day Grades of the Pirates Position Players
6/29: Jared Triolo Has Positive Recovery From Negative Start to the Year
6/29: This May Be Exactly What This Team Needed
6/28: The Key To Success For Nick Gonzales
PIRATES RECAP
By Wilbur Miller
Check back at the end of the night for all of the daily results throughout the system, or, join the discussion in the comments if you’re following Live.
Final Score: Dodgers 6, Pirates 4
Player of the Game: Nobody
Recap:
The Pirates blew an early 4-0 lead, thanks mainly to another disastrous relief outing from Roansy Contreras that left them trailing, 6-4. They then displayed their unique ability to blow scoring chances to keep it that way.
The Pirates got some early offense from the longball. Bryan Reynolds gave them a 1-0 lead with one out in the first, belting his ninth home run of the year off a 101 mph sinker. In the fourth, Jack Suwinski made it 4-0 with his 19th homer, following hits by Henry Davis and Carlos Santana.
Osvaldo Bido managed to muddle through four innings without throwing a lot of strikes — 46 of 81 pitches — and with a good bit of hard contact. He walked four, but he managed three scoreless innings before the Dodgers loaded the bases with nobody out in the fourth on two walks and a hit batsman. Bido managed to get out of that with only two runs scoring thanks to an outstanding defensive play by Jared Triolo.
Derek Shelton went with Contreras for the fifth inning and he made it as clear as it can possibly be that he shouldn’t be in the majors now. He was throwing only 92 mph and with little control as well. A pair of one-out walks set up a three-run bomb by J.D. Martinez and, with Contreras still inexplicably in the game, David Peralta followed with another longball, making it 6-4.
The Pirates had a golden opportunity to come back in the seventh. They loaded the bases with nobody out, but Reynolds and Davis both lined out, and Santana popped out on a 91-mph fastball over the middle of the plate. Dauri Moreta, Ryan Borucki and newly returned Yohan Ramirez threw a scoreless inning each to keep the deficit at two.
The Pirates got another shot in the ninth against Daniel Hudson. A leadoff double by Connor Joe, and walks to Andrew McCutchen and Reynolds loaded the bases again with nobody out. And, incredibly, the Pirates blew it again due to what can only be called stunningly inept hitting. Davis took a called third strike on a 3-2 pitch. With Hudson obviously unable to throw strikes, Santana chased the first pitch he saw and flied to left. And Suwinski whiffed on a 3-2 pitch far out of the strike zone.
