Official Game Thread - 7/26- Bucs @ Dbacks

[Surgnbuck]

Jack strikes out on a check swing that looked anything but a swing, but third base ump said he went. Hope we get those calls.

2-0 Bucs in the first.

Time to lay down, dream of Bucco victory all!

[Dutton]

Shelty is betting on the old "hidden vigorish" tonight. That's the only reason I can think of to explain Michael A's start tonight.
Great start for my Buccos!

[Ecbucs]

looked up Gallen's game logs. he throws a lot of pitches. 102 in 5 innings in last start vs. Cubs but he didn't allow a run. Has given up 15 runs in 18 innings in July (before tonight). This is not a jinx post.

[GhostOfPitthorn]

Spoiler alert: It was a jinx.

[Doc]

The eventual winning run scoring on a wild pitch, a walk, an error, or misplay of any kind is tough to live with.

[Surgnbuck]

I could feel this one coming when I finally went to bed. Ortiz was having trouble just finding the plate, and started throwing a lot of pitches each inning. The Pirates started out fast against Gallen with three early runs and running up his pitch count. But at the same time that Ortiz started struggling, the Pirates completely shut down offensively, and were going very quickly. Ortiz wasn't even getting a breather.

My big concern was Ortiz was going to start grooving his pitches just to get them over. This was a game Shelton needed to go to the pen early. And lo and behold, I wake up check the box score, and the game fell exactly the way I thought, Ortiz would be pushed to go further than he should of simply based on pitch count. The worst thing that ever happened was him getting the Diamondbacks in order in the 5th inning, that was not indicative of how he was pitching.

Once again, the Pirates can't hit with men on base. Palacios had the lone hit with RISP in the first inning. Cutch drove Bart home from first with a double. The Pirates bats went back to form stranding runners all over the place, including first and second and nobody out. The next two batters strike out.

Another one they let get away. They refused to put them away. Would have been much easier winning the series taking game one, especially when you had a three run lead to start with.

[Wildwoodcoach]

I made it to 10:45. Even though the bucs had the lead, I had that uneasy feeling
which turned out to be correct.

[Bobster]

I could feel this one coming when I finally went to bed. Ortiz was having trouble just finding the plate, and started throwing a lot of pitches each inning. The Pirates started out fast against Gallen with three early runs and running up his pitch count. But at the same time that Ortiz started struggling, the Pirates completely shut down offensively, and were going very quickly. Ortiz wasn't even getting a breather.

My big concern was Ortiz was going to start grooving his pitches just to get them over. This was a game Shelton needed to go to the pen early. And lo and behold, I wake up check the box score, and the game fell exactly the way I thought, Ortiz would be pushed to go further than he should of simply based on pitch count. The worst thing that ever happened was him getting the Diamondbacks in order in the 5th inning, that was not indicative of how he was pitching.

Once again, the Pirates can't hit with men on base. Palacios had the lone hit with RISP in the first inning. Cutch drove Bart home from first with a double. The Pirates bats went back to form stranding runners all over the place, including first and second and nobody out. The next two batters strike out.

Another one they let get away. They refused to put them away. Would have been much easier winning the series taking game one, especially when you had a three run lead to start with.

That was exactly how I saw it too. I turned it off as things were going south in the 6th. After a good 1st inning, Ortiz struggled in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th. Just as Surg noted, Ortiz had an uncharacteristically (for this game) smooth 5th. That seemed more like a lucky break than a good omen. I thought they were lucky to have gotten that one more scoreless inning from him and was certain he would not start the 6th inning. But I had momentarily forgotten about Shelton being Shelton. Pederson led off the 6th with a tremendous HR. But that wasn't a clue for Shelton, who left Ortiz in while he walked the next batter. That batter came around to score the tie run as Mlodzinki had a bad inning (2 hits and a wild pitch).

Meanwhile, after a productive first 2 innings, the Pirate batters (I'm reluctant to use the term "hitters") went to sleep. Here is the offense after the 2nd inning:
2-out doub-double in the 4th. He was stranded.
2 walks to begin the 7th. They were also stranded.
HBP and single in the 8th. Yep, they were stranded too.
2-out single in the 9th. See above re stranded status.

Taylor was allowed to lead off the 9th. In fairness, he did get that doub-double in the 4th but he's always a poor bet to get on base. He struck out. Reynolds was out and Tellez had been lifted with back spasms so Joe was already in the lineup. But Bae was available and would have been a L/R matchup. I guess he was getting reacclimated to the team's strict policy on rest. So despite poor hitting, poor pitching and poor managing they only lost by 1 run. Wouldn't have taken too much to win this one. What a shame.

[Ecbucs]

Spoiler alert: It was a jinx.

yep, probably the tenth loss I am responsible for this season. Glad I went to bed after the top of the sixth. I didn't expect Ortiz to be back for bottom of sixth.

[Doc]

What drives me nuts perhaps more than anything else are the walks. The team has walked 317 this year so far while the pitchers have issued 322, so roughly it’s a wash. I’d love to know how many times our guys have scored after being walked compared to how many times opponents have scored. I’d be amazed if it’s anywhere near to being close.