Bucs Run Out of Rallies, Lose In 14 To Arizona 6-5

Chad Kuhl started off by giving up a double and a walk; he closed out with three swinging K’s to end up with a Jeckyl-and-Hyde scoreless first.  It was all good for Zach Godley with a whiff and two soft comebackers. The second was a clean frame both ways. In the third, Chad was his own worst enemy. Two walks and a two-out triple by Jake Lamb made it 2-0 while Godley continued to cruise. The fourth saw a one-out Snake knock erased by DP; the Bucs got their first two hits with two outs and left them aboard. Cool Chad tossed a quiet fifth, and the Pirates found home after back-to-back doubles by Cutch and Jose Osuna and a pinch-hit knock by Gregory (who was promptly removed for designated pinch-runner Tyler Glasnow) to knot the score.

Huddy came on in the sixth after Chad’s pretty decent afternoon and wasted no time giving up a Paul Goldschmidt homer followed by a Lamb double that came around after a bunt and soft roller to make it 4-2. A leadoff walk to Josh and JJ’s single led to a run on Freeser’s groundout; Cutch singled with two away but Osuna couldn’t bring them home. In the seventh, Wade LeBlanc scattered two hits and two outs; Juan Nicasio took over for him to get Goldschmidt to pop out. Archie Bradley took the ball for Arizona and gave up a knock to Jordy. A strikeout and DP cleaned things up in a hurry. Juan stranded a Snake double in the eighth while Bradley tucked the Bucs away.

Felipe Rivero gave up a one-out double in the ninth but worked around it. Fernando Rodney climbed the hill and walked the first two Buccos (Cutch worked his after falling behind 0-2). Gift predictably bunted; Goldschmidt couldn’t handle the play and the sacks were filled with Pirates. Jordy came up and banged into a DP, at least tying the game. J-Bell K’ed and it’s free baseball. Tony Watson tossed a clean 10th and Jorge De La Rosa was touched for a two-out JJ double and walk, but got Elais Diaz to ground out.

Johnny Barbato got two routine outs in the 11th, then gave up a bomb to Nick Ahmed, followed by a walk, a knock and another walk as the rains fell (Allegheny County is under a t-storm watch). He got Goldschmidt to fly out to the wall in center to wiggle out of any excess damage. The tarp never came out and the umps said “play on” during a pretty hardy rainstorm. JJ Hoover struck out Cutch and pinch-hitter Gerrit Cole, but the apparently water-resistant Jordy had some magic up his sleeve and drilled a game-tying, two-out homer into the bullpen off an 0-1 heater. J-Bell whiffed as Hoover struck out the side with one notable exception. And then the umps called for the tarp just as the rain slowed, sheesh. Nothing like closing the barn door after the horse is gone, tho the delayed call worked to no one’s particular advantage. The tarp was rolled up a little after five and apparently the baseball gods agreed with the decision by sending a rainbow over PNC Park.

Jhan Marinez gave up a leadoff double to start the 12th an hour and 33 minutes after the 11th, but a pair of whiffs and a tapper back to the hill calmed those seas. TJ McFarlane waded in and worked a quiet frame. The 13th also went by in a blur; an intentional walk to Cutch to get to Marinez was all the action. The Snakes got a leadoff knock; Jhan fell behind Goldschmidt 3-0 but came back to get him on a weak roller, moving up the runner. That led to an intentional walk to Lamb, and Chris Owings cashed in a run on a grounder single to right with a couple of  blotches. First, J-Bell left the hole the ball went through to cover first; apparently a pickoff play was called but never executed, as pointed out post-game by Root Sports. Then JJ exacerbated the situation with a bobble and a poor throw behind a wide turn; both runners moved up on the miscue. Marinez got a K and a grounder to dam the tide but it was enough; McFarlane closed it out quietly.

Well, the Bucs took a shot at trying to steal the game from the Snakes, who went 2-for-18 with RISP and stranded 13 runners. Marinez accounted fairly well for himself during this outing; he worked well in jams and was done in by a couple of grounders that wouldn’t cooperate. Arizona is a team that can stroke the ball; the Pirates didn’t have the firepower to keep up. So it’s off to New York, a welcome day off and then a weekend series against the Metropolitans.

Notes:

• JJ had three hits while Cutch and Jordy added a pair, with Andrew also walking twice. Fraze had one of those days at the plate; he went 0-for-7. J-Bell’s cold spell also continued; he went 0-for-4 off the pine. Ah, regression.
• The game itself took four hours, 40 minutes to play, plus a hour and 33 minute rain delay.
• The Pirates bench/bullpen was down to Trevor Williams and Ivan Nova as Clint ran through 23 players.
• There were 20,990 at the game when it started. It was student scholars day at the ballyard.