Tribe Tops Bucs 6-1

Steven Brault walked the first batter and went three balls on the other three; though they caused no damage, he’s got a first inning pitch count of 29. Aaron Civale had a peaceful 1-2-3 start against the Bucs. Steven tossed a clean and much more efficient second frame. Again, not a peep from Pittsburgh. Cleveland went down in order in the third; the Pirates got their first hit, a two-single by Jake Stallings. A Newman boot was cleaned up with an around-the-horn DP and fly out in the fourth. There was nothing going on for the Bucs in their half. The Indians started off with back-to-back raps in the fifth, but a liner back to the mound turned into a DP and Steven put up another zero. The Buccos got a two-out knock from Joey O for their second hit. Dovy Neverauskas took over in the sixth (Brault did a good job; he recovered nicely after a rough start and at 80 pitches, he may have still had another frame left in him). Dovy was tagged for a double and walk with an out. With two away, Carlos Santana, last night’s man of the hour for the Cleves, went long again tonight on a 3-2 cutter to make it 3-0. The Bucs answer? Stalls single, Fraze DP, K-Man fan.

Geoff Hartlieb got the ball in the seventh and walked a pair, whiffed a pair and kept the scoreboard clean. Pittsburgh teed off on a couple of balls, but none found grass and Civale kept cruisin’. Tyler Bashlor made his first Pittsburgh appearance in the eighth. He may want to watch the runner a bit closer -  a leadoff walk turned into a triple two stolen bags later. Two strikeouts and two more walks later, a double chased all three gift runners home. After Bash bopped the next batter, Nick Mears trotted out and put an end to the misery. The Pirates went down routinely. Mears stayed on; a leadoff walk *sigh* was followed by a punchout and another DP, this one 4-6-3. Tuck pinch hit and banged a 3-2 meatball for a leadoff two-bagger. K-Man singled an out later to put Bucs on the corners. J-Bell’s sac fly averted the shutout; the ninth, like the seventh, featured well stroked hits but no ball luck. 

It’s not going to get much better until the first six guys, who are pretty regular in Shelty’s lineup, decide to hit the ball, with only Newman batting over .215. The bullpen and bench crew are on audition basis for next year. We wouldn’t expect to see any true prospects brought up; no sense in burning service time at this point.

Notes:

• Kevin Newman kept his hitting streak alive at eight games.
• The Pirates had five hits; two were by Jake Stallings, the #9 hitter. Tuck’s hit was from that spot, too, so the rest of team went 2-for-27.
• Pittsburgh pitching leads the majors in walks; eight more tonight gives them 93 in 179-2/3 IP.
• The Bucs have lost 13 of the last 15 games and are 4-16.