Bucs Drop Opener 4-2, Game #2 Preview: Cody Ponce v Trevor Bauer, Lineup & Notes

Game One Recap: Steven Brault gave up a walk to start the games before a fly and a 4-6-3 DP ended it; Luis Castillo put down Pittsburgh in order. The second inning turned into a two-out terror show when a hit batter, a J-Bell boot and single pushed in a run; Brault struck out the side around that burst. Redbeard singled and Gregory doubled to open the Bucco half; they didn’t score. But the Red added on in the third. Three singles – one an infield rap caused by an uncovered base and another a pop that fell between fielders – plus a sac fly plated a pair. Erik Gonzalez doubled with one away, B-Rey walked an out later and Colin Moran’s single brought in Gonzo. Gregory’s ground rule double chased a another run home; Redbeard had to stop at third when the ball went in the stands or it would be a tie game instead of 3-2. Steven spun a quick and clean fourth. Key & Tuck banged out knocks to begin the inning; a Stalls strikeout and Gonzo DP ended it. 

Nick Castellanos took one swing in the fifth to put up another score by homering to center. With two gone, a walk took Brault to 96 pitches and brought in Dovy Neverauskas to finish up. The Pirates went down in order. A walk and wild pitch didn’t hurt Dovy in the sixth. Key drew a free pass with two outs, followed by a Tuck whiff. Tyler Bashlor was called on for the seventh and was tagged for a leadoff two-bagger. He wild pitched the runner to third with an out, but K’ed his way out of the jam. Raisel Iglesias took the hill and was greeted by a Fraze single. A comeback grounder was mishandled; the Reds got the force at second, but a bad relay allowed Gonzo to reach second. There he stayed as the Bucs dropped the opener 4-2.

Fielding continues to bite the team; a physical and couple of mental errors at least tainted three of the Reds runs and going 2-for-11 w/RISP made the runs hard top come by.

Notes:

• Redbeard and Gregory each had two hits; Key had a knock and a walk.
• RHP Jandel Gustave reported to Altoona after clearing a lengthy health protocol (he was likely quarantined). He had signed a minor league deal in mid-August after being DFA’ed by San Fran. Gustave’s worked for the Astros and Giants, slashing 1-0/3.43 in 43 outings over parts of three years.
• The Mets DFA’ed Billy Hamilton. Guess they didn’t play the Pirates enough… 
  

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Game Two: This match is also seven innings and will be on AT&T SportsNet & 93.7 The Fan. This is actually a makeup game from Cincinnati, and so the Reds are the home team.

Lineup: Kevin Newman SS, Adam Frazier 2B, Bryan Reynolds LF, Colin Moran 1B, Gregory Polanco RF, Josh Bell DH, Ke’Bryan Hayes 3B, Anthony Alford CF, John Ryan Murphy C and Cody Ponce P. Good to see that as long as Hayes is here, they’ll use him.

Pitchers: RHP Cody Ponce (1-0, 2.00) will take on RHP Trevor Bauer (3-2/2.13) in the nightcap. This is Cody’s second stint as the 29th man for a twin bill. He beat the Cards last week in the same situation with a scoreless 5-2/3IP outing. Bauer started off on fire, but the last couple of visits to the hill have been rough as he’s given up four long balls in 11-2/3 IP. The Pirates beat him up pretty well when they last met in 2019, but he owned the Bucs in 2018.