Pirates Salvage Series in Coors on Father’s Day
The Pirates and the Rockies have had some absurd clashes over the past few years. Even though the teams have both been terrible in the 2020’s, they always seem to provide entertaining matchups, and this weekend series did not disappoint in that fashion.
Game one was a pitcher’s duel for most of it. Bubba Chandler turned in yet another solid outing, making it four in a row. Despite some really poor lines this year, with six innings and two runs allowed on Friday, he lowered his ERA to 4.62, a number which is going down every week. Unfortunately for Bubba, he got no run support. The struggling Pirates offense didn’t score a run against Kyle Freeland until the eighth inning, where they pushed across three runs on some station to station hitting, capped off by a Nick Gonzales triple to give the Bucs a 3-2 lead. The Rockies struck right back, however, getting to Mason Montgomery for 2 more runs in the bottom of the inning. It looked like the Bucs we recooking in the top of the inning, though, as they loaded the bases with no outs against Antonio Senzatela. Tyler Callihan entered the game as a pinch hitter and struck out, and then Jared Triolo grounded into a double play to end the game, which happened extremely quickly.
Coming off the disappointing loss, the Bucs looked to rebound with Paul Skenes on the mound. While Skenes’ ERA is higher than the rest of his career, his underlying metrics are actually better than they have ever been, and he looked to dominate a so-so Rockies lineup. Spencer Horwitz was on his side for this one right from the get-go, pounding yet another leadoff home run to give the Bucs an early lead. And… the Pirates did not score again for the rest of the game. Skenes gave up two runs in six innings with eight strikeouts, but it was for naught, as he was outdueled by Tomoyuki Sugano. And yet, once again, the Pirates had a golden chance. In the ninth, they had runners on first and third with no outs, down by just a single run. Ryan O’Hearn and Tyler Callihan struck out swinging, and then Jake Mangum appeared to tie the game on an infield hit that was actually ruled fielders interference, as pinch runner Billy Cook apparently impeded the fielder’s path. With an absurd call, the Pirates dropped yet another good Paul Skenes start, as his record now sits at 6-7.
Game three on Father’s Day was a much better time. While Jared Jones gave up a run In the second inning and had to leave the game in the fourth after getting hit with a line drive, the Bucs’ bats finally showed up, as they scored every inning from the fourth to the seventh. Some highlights included a Nick Gonzales two run blast and a Bryan Reynolds three run moonshot. Reynolds tallied his 51st RBI in this one, and his OPS sits at a cool .884 – one of the best marks for an outfielder in the entire MLB. The Pirates’ middle relief also picked up Jones, as Yohan Ramirez and Evan Sisk both provided two innings of shutout ball. The Rockies mounted multi-run rallies against both Dennis Santana and Gregory Soto in the eighth and ninth, but it wasn’t enough, as the Bucs won the series finale 8-6.
This wasn’t a great series, but for an extremely injured Pirates squad, it was incredibly important that they picked up at least one win.
There aren’t really any great series MVP candidates, but Jake Mangum had a fantastic game three where he tallied three hits, so we can give it to him and Bryan Reynolds together for providing the Bucs with a miniature offensive explosion.
Next up is a homestand, starting with the Seattle Mariners coming to town. Mitch Keller will match up against George Kirby, as the Buccos look to hopefully start getting some injured pieces back. Lets Go Bucs!
