Flaherty Shuts Down Bucs In Finale 2-0

Steven Brault did the National Anthem honors and James Marvel took the hill for his first MLB start. He tossed a spotless frame, using sliders with a show-me fastball. K-Man opened with a double off Jack Flaherty, and he stayed there. The Cards got a walk; the Bucs went down whiff, Melky single, Fraze DP. It was a clean third for Marv and ditto for Flaherty. The Redbirds banged a two-out rap in the fourth while Pittsburgh went down 1-2-3. Matt Carpenter doubled and scored on a Harrison Bader knock in the fifth to draw first blood. Joey O led off with a double and Melky singled; Osuna didn’t advance on Cabrera’s pop that looked catchable but fell. A force left Bucs on the corners before Jake hit into a DP *sigh*. A walk to Kolten Wong followed by a Goldy double added another run and brought in Yacksel Rios, who put out the fire. K-Man was bopped and moved up on a wild pitch; he also went nowhere.

Wei-Chung Wang got the seventh. A knock and walk started it off, but a bad bunt and Jake back pick relieved the pressure and helped keep it at 2-0. Redbeard opened with a rap, with the inning ending with Clint and Fraze both getting ejected after barking at plate ump Roberto Ortiz, who called two pretty wide deliveries strikes and then rang Fraze up on a borderline call (that one, in justice, he should have at least spoiled; the first two were clear misses). Kyle Crick walked one and K’ed a pair in a quiet eighth. Pablo walked with an out, and yah, he likewise grew roots. Yefrey Ramirez worked the ninth smoothly. After 112 pitches, Flaherty left and Carlos Martinez took over. Eli pinch hit for Starling, who appeared to turn his wrist catching the last out in the eighth. The Bucs made not a peep, and that was all she wrote.

Jack Flaherty has been the NL’s top pitcher since August and did nothing to dispel that notion today. James Marvel looks like a Willy/Steven Brault-style pitcher; 92 MPH fastball and dependent on location rather than raw stuff. He did well today; we’ll see how the rest of the month pans out.

Notes:

• Melky had two of the Pirates five hits; no other Burgher reached base safely more than once.
• The Bucs placed RHP James Marvel on the roster by moving OF Jason Martin (dislocated left shoulder) to the 60-day IL. RHP Yefry Ramirez was also reinstated from the 10-day IL.
• There were 18,636 announced warming the seats today.
• The Pirates finished 5-14 against the Cards. They won one game at home.
• Pittsburgh is off to San Francisco for a four-game set starting tomorrow, then a three-pack at Wrigley before returning home.
• On his radio show, Neal Huntington said that Marvel will remain in the rotation for the rest of the season. He added that there remains a possibility that J-Bell may return to the OF in 2020, depending on how Gregory Polanco recovers; more surgery may be an option. He noted Ke’Bryan Hayes and Will Craig weren’t called up because the FO didn’t believe they were MLB ready yet.
• Tampa took Tyler Glasnow off the IL and gave him an opener start today. He struck out five in two innings, hitting 100 MPH three times, and also gave up a two-run homer to Randal Grichuk.