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Final: Pirates 3, Reds 2 61
DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS Getting ready for the first pitch … Game: Pirates (70-64) vs. Cincinnati Reds (65-70), 4:05 p.m., PNC Park Pitchers: RHP Vance Worley (5-4, 3.14) vs. RHP Alfredo Simon (13-8, 3.26) TV, radio: Root Sports, Fox Sports 1 (national), 93.7 The Fan Online: Live box score / Multimedia / Official media notes
Pirates Lineup
1-Harrison 3B
2-Lambo RF
3-McCurchen CF
4-Walker 2B
5-Martin C
6-Davis 1B
7-Marte LF
8-Mercer SS
9-Worley P
Reds Lineup
1- Billy Hamilton CF
2-Todd Frazier 3B
3- Brandon Phillips 2B
4- Devin Mesoraco C
5- Brayan Pena 1B
6-Jay Bruce RF
7-Zack Cozart SS
8- Skip Schumaker LF
9 Alfredo Simon P
Watching Harrison last night reminded me of the Yankees’ Graig Nettles against the Dodgers in Game 3 in the late ’70s. LA was up 2 games to none. Nettles devoured everything and turned the series around.
Watching Cutch last night, it was apparent (to me, at least) that he was not a happy camper. He did not have his usual look of concentration in his last two at bats, swung at the 1st pitch both times and popped up twice. It is probably physical, but I wouldn’t rule out the other.
reading too much into that, WH. He is 80% and that has to be frustrating.
McCutchen is our franchise player. He makes $2 million a year less than Martin, our highest paid player. How encouraging is it, I wonder, to read about Pirate fans clammoring for management to offer Martin $12-14 million a year to keep him when he becomes a free agent?
If the Pirates win today and the Cardinals lose their DH to the Cubs, the pirates and Cardinals are tied. The ERA of the Cards’ starters is 5.86 and 7.07.
St Loyis has been outscored by a pretty wide margin this year, Tom. I think they’re fortunate to have as good of a record as they do. I wouldn’t be surprised if they fizzled from here.
Had a nice view last night of Martin working EV-a work of art. Corralled at least 3 pitches in the dirt that could have gone to the backstop-maybe more. U could see he was asking for the pitch down. He also took several walks to the mound to let EV have a breather. Awesome!
Yes, agree RM took control of the game at times last night. An outstanding performance by him
Except for the error on the throw to 2d base trying to catch Hamilton.
The throw should have been knocked down – I have no idea what Mercer and Walker do on these – but there is no reason the ball should have gotten though both of them.
Glad to see Lambo get a start. Hope he does well after that horrendous spring. Tabata didn’t hurt us last night, though.
I see where Puig is 0-17 or something like that – wonder when the Dodgers will ship him down to AAA – he clearly has no clue how to hit major league pitching
LL,
At this point I think that certain people should be banned. and im not talking about you.
What a game last night! Jay Hay was fantastic. Loved the double play he turned with the tap of the hand on the bag. Looking forward to today’s game. Let’s go Bucs!
Randy in RVA.
Going into September the Bucs will have a very nice set of LH pinch hitting options.
So far so good!
Randy in RVA.
That was not a bad steal attempt. Josh is great – but he is not fast enough to get to second without a mistake. Up 3-0 you can hope for a mistake and if not then you get the top of the order with no outs next inning.
Pretty funny. They just said Bob Nutting won the clay pigeon shoot.
Duh.
My boss always beat me at golf – not sure how that happened…
My boss played in three consecutive U.S. Amateur & one British Amateur Championship in the 1980s. Guess who carried his clubs?
Nice catch on the homer. 20 oz beer in one hand ball in the other…no problem! lol
Maybe the best catch by a fan that we’ve seen at PNC all year. However, there was an equally good one by a Cubs’ fan a couple of weeks ago.
Martin’s perfect throw and Mercer’s tag catch Hamilton trying to steal second–an execution as good as they come. Bob Walk’s first words on the telecast: “Sniper!” Martin throws so hard on attempted steals his mask always ends up on the side of his head.
Russell Martins reaction after throwin out Hamilton….. As Chuck Noll would say… “Act like ya been there before”.
Calmly strolls to the dugout like “thats what they pay me to do”
Class act !
For sure.
Anybody else having trouble with Root freezing, or is that my FIOS?
No problems here in Europe, AW. How many other tabs do you have open at the same time?
It’s on my TV, Warhorse. Only have one channel on at a time.
If you want your pitchers to pitch to contact you had better put a good defense behind them…
What the Bucs have trotted out there this year is not good – needs to be better.
Last night I thought Eddie had 20+/- extra pitches because the defense did not execute well.
down vote all you want & I am taking it as disagreeing – not personal. But Walker misplayed one easy out – Mercer another – both led to EV pitching to additional batters – if I am wrong about that please tell me how? Overall this team plays AWFUL defense & it has cost games.
MLB team fielding stats has the Pirates 28th out of 30 teams.
Careful Aerow – facts are not always well received on this blog – just curious – pray tell how does the MVP rank among outfielders?
Ike with another stellar performance today.
I didn’t give you the down vote, FS, but that error could have been on any of the 3. No one called it apparently, and Ike stuck his glove out at the last minute. Could have easily been on Lambo or Neil. I would think that was Neil’s play, but what do I know.
Walker’s ball. Second option had he run hard would be Lambo. Ike distant third.
FWIW, Wilver, on the radio Blass & Tim N. said Walker couldn’t get there because he was shaded toward 2b bag. Then, I got home and my daughter said she thought any of the 3 had a good shot.
Saw the play. Walker had better angle than Ike and could have had it. Both he and Lambo slowed.
.
Thankfully, water under bridge.
Go Buccos!
We got lucky, that wasn’t a good pitch.
Raise it! Will be in the house tomorrow looking for the sweep! Good Pittsburgh sports day.
Bring it home, Lad
Pirates are .5 out of the second wild card. Let’s go Cubs in the nightcap tonight.
Hats off to Worley and Walker! Another fine set of performances by the Buccos as a team. 7 Ws from the last 9. Go you Bucs!
Things are starting to feel like September 2013. Nice!
You mean when we went from first and hosting a playoff series to barely making it into the wild card game. Lots of down votes coming – but I can take it!
Barely made it to the Wild Card game? Last year? What are you talking about, LL? The Bucs hosted that game, and the Reds comfortably got the 2nd WC.
Jim – what were the standings on Labor day last year?
On September 3, 2013 the Bucs had a 2 game lead on the Cards in the NL Central…
I am so happy that they made the post season and out 20 years of losing behind us – but they should have won the NLC and not had to play in the WC game.
LL: You said they barely made the Wild Card game. That’s untrue. The Reds finished several games behind the Pirates and made the Wild Card game fairly handily. The Pirates were closer to winning the division than not making the Wild Card game. They were 94-68 last year.
Last year, the Pirates went 94-68, losing to the Cards who went an incredible 97-65. They had nothing to apologize for with 94 wins in a division w 3 playoff teams. Washington won 86 games to lose the 2nd WC to the Reds. They made the WC by 8 games over Wash.
No down vote LL….just enjoy this, Dude.
Thanks Thomas – Have feeling we will have an interesting September ahead of us…
….fear the Bones….
Bucs nay have stolen one today. No offense after the 1st. But, I’ll take it. Nice shutdown by Wilson, Watson & Mark. Wilson has been pitching well & that really helps. Cutch is hurting bad, I think. Sweep tomorrow.
this is a minor peeve, sorry. The last couple games the starters have been outstanding. When they came out of the game they have all got a nice ovation from the fans. I haven’t seen one tip his cap in response. Guess I’m old school
What do you want them to do – or expect them to do? Why should they acknowledge the fans – they are the one who worked hard and got the job done – thinking they should somehow thank the fans for appreciating that seems silly to me.
I don’t know, maybe because the fans pay their exorbitant salaries.
And just to be clear – I do not think everyone who shows up should get a trophy – winners are special and should be seen as such
I expect them to be polite and respect the traditions of the game. Understand why you’re lonely