Pirates Series Recap: Buccos Earn First Series Win of Season, Take Two of Three From St. Louis
The Pirates had an offensive explosion, well, in their terms, with ten hits in eight innings on Monday, defeating the Cardinals 8-4 in the series opener at PNC Park. Over the next 22 innings, including a 13-inning marathon, the team could only tally 11 hits. You can say that the offense peaked too early in this series, and yes, we found out that Paul Skenes is human, after he gave up five runs over six innings in the middle game of the series. Overall, the Pirates did enough to win their first series of the young season and officially won three of their last four games.
ANOTHER DIFFERENT LINEUP
The Pirates had a different lineup for each of the six games for their first homestand of the year. They haven’t had a single lineup rolled out more than twice during the season. The Pirates’ flagship station, 93.7 The Fan, brought out interesting audio during the PM Team with Chris Mueller and Andrew Filliponi this week. The sound was arguably the Pirates’ best player, Bryan Reynolds, telling the press that there needs to be more stability in the lineup this season. Well, that is a fail so far.
It seems that the only stability in the lineup is Isiah Kiner-Falefa in the nine-hole, but here is the kicker: He has by far the best batting average on the team. Meanwhile, the Pirates paraded out Jack Suminski in the leadoff spot the past two games, and he tallied zero hits and two walks over six plate appearances.
HE IS HUMAN
Paul Skenes had the most challenging start of his young career on Tuesday as he allowed five runs over six innings while throwing 96 pitches. But, even an off start is still impressive with Skenes. It was clear that he didn’t have his best stuff in 30-degree weather, but he still struck out seven batters, giving up only six hits, and walked just one Cardinal. The Pirates lost the game 5-3 with Tommy Pham representing the tying run with two outs in the ninth inning and nearly gapped a ball into the tying run in scoring position. Appreciate what we have, Pittsburgh.
AN OFFENSIVE EXPLOSION
Cold weather? Who cares?! On Monday, the Pirates tallied ten hits and scored eight runs, taking advantage of the Cardinals' struggling pitching staff. Four Pirates accounted for eight hits as IKF continues to hit, Cutch is a professional hitter, Joey Bart swung for the fences, and Endy’s bat finally came around a bit.
CALL TO THE PEN
The Pirates' bullpen gave up just three earned runs in this series, with all three coming against Thomas Harrington in what was a masterful performance to earn his first save while going four innings of relief to help Carmen Mlodzinski earn the win in game one of the series.
The Bucco Bullpen ranks sixth in the NL in ERA, even with Bednar and Holderman inflating it. They are tied for third with Arizona with 49 strikeouts. The relievers have pitched the third-most innings in the National League. Could you imagine if GMBC went out and got some offense for these guys?
Overall, the Pirates are 5-8, three games back from the Cubs, who are in first place in the NL Central. The team will head to Great American Smallpark, hoping to get some offense cooking against the Reds, who are also 5-8 at the time of this article. Falter, Heaney, and Mlodzinski will take the mound for the Pirates, and Brady Singer is the only Reds starter announced.
