Pirates Score Late, Rally To Take 3-2 Win In 11 Innings Behind Fraze & 4-Hit Pitching

Today’s Game: Miguel Yajure and Kevin Gausman traded 1-2-3 opening frames. The G-Men worked a walk to start the second, but a K followed by a 4-6-3 DP made for a quiet ending. It was even quieter for the Bucs, with two of three batters fanning. San Fran got a two-out single in the third for their efforts; the Pirates got two more guys struck out. Yajure spun a clean fourth. Adam Frazier singled to lead off, and remained on first after a couple more whiffs. The Giants made not a peep in the fifth. Gregory Polanco started the Bucco half with a hustle double while the next trio went down on strikes (nine of the last 12 Buc outs have been punch outs). Sam Howard got the sixth, though Yajure was only at 57 pitches with 8-9-1 coming up. No matter; Sam struck out the side. After another K, Fraze doubled and stayed anchored. Duane Underwood got the seventh inning call. He was tapped for a two-down rap, but rang up his second K to post another zero. It was another fruitless frame for Pittsburgh. Brandon Crawford homered, barely dropping a ball over the Clemente Wall in the eighth off Underwood; we’ll see if it holds up. The Pirates made it eight down in a row in their half. 

David Bednar worked the ninth and K’ed a pair in a calm frame. The Pirates opened with back-to-back knocks by Fraze and Kevin Newman to occupy the corners and Jake McGee was waved in. Bryan Reynolds greeted him with a single to tie the score. The Pirates quickly reverted to form; the next three whiffed on 10 pitches. Richard Rodriguez gave up a couple of well-struck outs, but stranded the ghost runner on third in the 10th. Tyler Rogers took the ball, and a grounder moved the free runner to third before two more punch outs (the last on a blown call by the ump); that’s 17 K’s for the Bucs if you’re keeping count. Luis Oviedo toed the slab in the 11th and with an out, a short flare dropped into right to score the ghost from second, followed by a walk. A grounder moved them up, but Luis ended it there. Caleb Baragar answered the phone. He should have let it ring; Fraze greeted him with a triple off the Clemente Wall. After a pop up, the bases were filled via two intentional walks. The strategy looked sound as Gregory fell behind 0-2, but he hung in to deliver a sac fly; raise it.

Well, they may not hit but they don’t quit. The Giants don’t swat much better than the Bucs, but it was another impressive pitching performance for the Pirates, especially matched up against a guy with a 1.84 ERA. The batting was pretty much Fraze tonight; the team went 2-for-14 with RISP and only Fraze and Newman went w/o a whiff or three. With Newman and Gonzalez both barely above the Mendoza line, it’ll be interesting to see how fast a track they put Oneil Cruz on.

Notes:

• Fraze had four of Pittsburgh’s seven hits and was involved in all three tallies, scoring twice and chasing home a run.
• The crowd at PNC Park tonight was 6,743, one of the bigger gatherings of the year.
• If you’re wondering about how the ghost runner shows up on pitchers stats – if he scores, the pitcher is charged with an unearned run, just like an error, so it doesn’t affect ERA.
• The Cards called up ol’ Bucco IF Max Moroff to replace Paul DeJong, who’s on the 10-day IL.

Tomorrow’s Game: The game starts at 6:35 and will be on AT&T SportsNet & 93.7 The Fan, featuring Tyler Anderson v ol’ nemesis Johnny Cueto.