Bucs Wake Up In Ninth; Pablo Walks It Off For 3-2 Win Over the Reds

Good opener for Mitch, with a pair of K. Starling got a two-out knock against Anthony Sclafani for all the Bucco damage. Aristides Aquino continued his red hot rookie debut, drilling the second pitch of the second inning into the seats; a following walk was erased via a twin killing. Joey O legged out a squib, but Fraze hit into a DP on an 0-2 pitch in an at-bat that couldn’t get much worse. The Reds got a two-away rap followed by a whiff in the third. Pittsburgh went down in order. Aquino again was pesky with a rap in the fourth, but that was it for Redlegs action. B-Rey doubled to start it off; two outs later he stole third and Redbeard walked. It didn’t help. Keller tossed a 1-2-3 fifth; his slider is money tonight as he has seven K. The Pirates got a Stalls single, and that was it. Cincy’s Freddy Galvis rap caused no trouble in the sixth. Reynolds opened with a walk and Starling beat out an infield rap. J-Bell lasered one to center; Nick Senzel ran it down, but both runners moved up. And holy productive out; Redbeard’s right-side grounder tied the game.

A double and single put Reds on the corners with no outs in the seventh and chased Mitch; Michael Feliz got the ball. Good call; Michael struck out the next three Redlegs on 12 tosses. Robert Stephenson was brought in. A boot put Fraze aboard to lead off, and he promptly swiped second. Again, nada – the Bucs are 0-for-9 w/RISP tonight. Keone Kela was waved in for the eighth. He was touched for a Galvis two-bagger with an out. After a punchout, he got ahead of Aquino 1-2 and threw him three straight curves; two were in the dirt and the third was spanked for a double. A passed ball moved him up, then came a walk before KK ended it with another whiff. Amir Garrett took his turn, and the Pirates didn’t make a peep (nor, thankfully, did he). Felipe Vazquez tossed a clean ninth. Raisel Iglesias surrendered a rap to Redbeard to start the frame; Erik Gonzalez came on to run. Joey O’s single moved him up 90′, and he came home when Fraze dropped a two-strike single into center. Big Joe ran for Joey O at second. Stalls bunted them up for Pablo Reyes, and he smacked a slider into left (it landed on the track) to become the walk-off hero. Raise the Roger.

Give Mitch and Michael Feliz big props; the Bucs are now allowing Kells to use his whole arsenal, and today he was command of his pitches. And Pablo needs some walk-off lessons; he made the Pirates chase him around the bases til they finally caught him rounding third for the celebratory dogpile.

Notes:

• Starling and Joey O each had two hits. B-Rey and Redbeard each had a knock and a walk. The Pirates had nine raps; four of them were in the ninth.
• Mitch set his career high in strikeouts with nine; he had seven in his first MLB outing in May against the Reds as his previous mark. The Bucs struck out 14 Cincy batters during the evening. More importantly, they only walked a pair.
• There were 20,091 in the stands tonight, on a Fireworks Friday Night.