The Pirates Waste Great Pitching; Lose Seven Straight

Pittsburgh lost to the Twins by a final of 5-2, dropping their seventh in a row. The pitching for the Bucs was nothing but perfect early on. But their bats couldn’t heat up to score any runs. 

Perfect Pitching

Pittsburgh found themselves in a pitching duel between Trevor Williams and Minnesota’s Randy Dobnak. The Twins scored in the first inning on an almost foul ball. The play had to be reviewed and the umpires ruled it a fair ball.

Williams bailed out the Bucs’ hitting, which only managed to reach base three times and couldn’t cross home plate. That seems to be one of the themes this year for the Pirates; good pitching, not hitting. Williams did a great job of using his changeup, painting it on the bottom of the zone on both sides of the plate.

Going into the 7^th inning, the Twins only had two hits, their last came in the second inning. But, Luis Arraez broke the pattern and laced a double.

With the injury of Nick Burdi, the Bucs were saving their bullpen, making this a long outing for Williams. Williams’ night ended after seven incredible innings, striking out five and giving up one run. The Bucs’ starter was also able to sit down 12 batters in a row.

Geoff Hartlieb came out of the bullpen for the Bucs in the 8^th and had a bit of trouble with two outs and bases loaded. However, he was able to finish the inning undamaged keeping the Pirates down by one.

Too Late, Seven Straight

In the ninth, the Twins scored again on a Marwin Gonzalez single that scored Byron Buxton. With two outs in the inning, Max Kepler broke the game open with a three-run homer to make it 5-0 Twins.

With two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Josh Bell blasted a two-run homer cutting the Twins’ lead to 5-2. The Bucs continue to have a problem with scoring when it matters most.

The Pirates wasted a great performance by Williams. Trevor Williams kept them in this game for seven innings, and the Bucs couldn’t score until it was too late. The Bucs finish out the series this afternoon.

Check out my recaps of Game One and Game Two!

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