Final: Reds 5, Pirates 2

Corey Hart to the convenience list. Chris Volstad activated. Left shoulder impingement for Hart. Sure.

Wrong starting pitchers.

Pirates Lineup

1. Gregory Polanco (L) RF
2. Starling Marte (R) LF
3. Andrew McCutchen (R) CF
4. Neil Walker (S) 2B
5. Josh Harrison (R) 3B
6. Pedro Alvarez (L) 1B
7. Jordy Mercer (R) SS
8. Chris Stewart (R) C
9. Gerrit Cole (R) P

Is Juan Marichal on the hill tonight? Wrong stadium. Wrong pitcher in the pic

Oh no! Locke is pitching AGAIN?? :)

They spelled 'Honus Wagner' wrong on the statue!

Mark Melancon, Stolmy Pimentel, Jerry Sands, Ivan de Jesus, and Brock Holt have all had Big League jobs this season, making Joel Hanrahan - the best player in the deal at the time - the only piece from that entire convoluted trade yet to make an appearance in the show during 2015.

905

I don't believe ElRoy Face was a starting pitcher when he won twelve games before the break.

Really hoping for consistency from all sides tonight!

Better start warming up the bullpen....

There goes the perfect game

Listening to Reds announcers blather about Cole never beating them

And there's Hamilton's double

And there's Hamilton's triple

Compare that at to Marte's plays last night

Polanco is one of the worst outfielders I have seen in a long time. Almost every ball hit his way is an adventure.

Good outfielder catches that ball.

Walk Hamilton and that is what you get. Horrible throw by Stewart.

Sooooooooo sick of Hamilton and FRAZIER!! And the Bucs don't score on Leake. And Cole's already at 30 pitches.

If Hamilton would learn how to hit he would score 130 runs per year. Him getting on first is basically a triple.

Are you kidding me???? Here we go again...

Well, this sucks.

Has Cole made it thru the 1st innings this year without given up at least one run? I sure doesn't seem like it.

There goes that theory

Hamilton was clearly out at 2nd base. Good thing Hurdle saved that challenge. Must keep it in the same pocket as Tomlin's special 2 point play.

That whole issue about who should be the starting pitcher for the ASG, um, yeah, that's no longer a relevant question.

Cole vs Reds this year - 11 innings and 7 ERs

I have feeling Hurdle will get tossed soon. Strike zone is horrible

Glad to see the home plate ump has an inconsistent, horrible strike zone tonight. Ugh.

In what galaxy was a bunt a good idea ?

I hate the thought of computerized ball and strike calls, but with blind and brain dead home plate umps like this one, it's inevitable.

Loved the way the Pirates manufactured that run. More of that, please.

Yep. Strike zone is non-existent.

I certainly hope the Pirates have Corey Hart visit with Dr. James Andrews soon. This club cannot afford to not have Hart on the bench to not use.

they tried a hit and run with the pitcher? ! you think hurdle just had a heart attack?

Cole is ready to eclipse that 80 pitch mark in the 4th inning.

Bucs have a good shot at taking this game tonight. It's not at Washington, and the Reds rather seem to stink out loud. I have to believe they recall being up by 4 last night before it fell apart.

This ump just did it Cutch

Who didn't see this coming. Bucs starters get behind, no offense or little hitting. This is what happens when you play a team that can hit. Reds are not a good team but they can hit and on occasion pitch. Hurdle may see that the roster is just not as good as hoped. Unfortunately not much the Bucs can do except play better all around. Maybe getting hammered for awhile will help in that happen.

If I'm hurdle I take some eyeglasses out to the ump. All stars generally don't have strike 3 like that called on them. That was not a strike

Why wasn't Cutch able to bunt Marte to third? That strategy worked before with Harrison.

Wow. Blue having a bad game. Cutch got screwed.

Got to wonder what Harrison is doing there. Did not even compete in that at bat. Threw it away.

Harrison is reverting to his start of the year form.

I still think Cole is a bad ass and we're fortunate to have him. He had a few bad breaks...calm down humans. Luckily we have this awesome offense...ruh roh

Bucs 12-10 in one run games and the bull pen has been outstanding to have that record. The only thing that has really been a real positive this year. If starters falter, that takes the bull pen out of equation.

Polanco has NO ARM. How they think this kid is a future super star defies all logic.

It's a shame Hurdle can't find a way to get Hughes and Watson more work. I feel sorry for Volstad. Guy might not see much mound time.

Kang in. Harrison out. Hope Josh's shoulder is not impinged or anything. We're down to 3 bench players. If this turns out to be an extra inning game of extreme length, there is no Cole to pinch hit.

Pedro nearly ran into an out there, not sure why the pitcher didn't get him since he was the lead runner.

One inning too late.

Cutch . . . I don't care if he cut it off. That was a double.

2 out RBIs tonight
Reds 5, Bucs zip

Don't care if Walker is your cleanup hitter or not, he's still Neil Walker. Should have bunted Cutch over to 2nd, there.

Sure is comforting to have a .211 hitter batting 7th and Chris Stewart the better hitter batting 8th. Go figure.......

Last 16 games, the Bucs have scored more than 3 runs only 3 times ... While they managed to win 10 of those games the bats have to heat up at some point

I thought Jordy was starting to come to life...man, he's getting ready to go under the Mendoza line again.

bucs success at the plate last year was based on seeing lots of pitches and getting into bull pens. tonight leake takes the mound in the seventh having thrown 79 pitches. where is the working the count? the fouling off borderline pitches? the approach at the plate is all on ots head. it looks more jay bell taught than jeff branson.

My typing fingers are impinged. Think I will jus continue to observe all of the banter.

Looks to me like he's out.

If not, we skated on one.

Proposal for ROOT: no camera shots of polanco slides into the bases. Destroy any evidence.

These tag replays are ridiculous.

Anyone watching Polanco the last two months without prior access to the hype machine would be incredulous he was a highly touted prospect. Hes totally busting out. And not in a good way. Bryant, Pederson, Correa Id swap for in a heartbeat.

Man Polanco is pretty lucky there. Need a big hit now.

We need to re-learn how to fricking slide

...and how not to chase outside the zone

Never seen a team swing at more bad balls. Same culprits all the time, too.

To say that Marte is wildly inconsistent at this point in his career would be quite an understatement.

Can't even put the ball in play. May as well as have been called out at second for the now standard pop off the bag slide.

How many pitches have our guys chased that are outside and in the dirt? The plate discipline on this team is so inconsistent from game to game.

How many pitches have our guys chased that are outside and in the dirt? The plate discipline on this team is so inconsistent from game to game.

We will likely lose tonight unfortunately but as flat as we've played a couple bigs hits could still turn it around.

Another failure to get a 2 out RBI

Shift killer bunt.

Jung Ho man, I tell ya...

Now that the pitching is trending back to the norm, the Pirates need a couple of bats to get hot quickly

Can't imagine how bogus it would have been when Pirates clinched wild card spot in 2013 if the Schumacher final out at home had been "under review" for 15 minutes.

What ever happened to the art of the slide?! It in inexcusable at this level.

So to all you guys and gals who know way more about baseball than me, how is Kang not playing everyday? They found a way to fit Jhay in last year and he blossomed, hasn't Kang earned that at this point?

Been trying to hold out on this thought, but starting to think that this is one of those teams that will be good but never win anything. Not going to ever beat the Cardinals and will always fight for 2nd/3rd place and fall just short. The team needs to dump some of the future to win now, but wont because it is far more lucrative to have a contender that never wins than it is to have one championship.

Another loser to drill Cutch up and in. Maybe Pirates will do something about it someday ... or not.

If only Hart had been available tonight. It would be 5-5 right now.

De Jesus and Trillo were a pretty good DP combination for Cubs back in the day.

KDro with another weak AB against a southpaw

Okay. Now I see why Pedro is not allowed to start against LHPs.

how is he not sitting on off speed pitches? does he really think they are gonna throw him fastballs

Ok now the Bucs are primed to stage a miracle rally in the 9th. Keep the faith

Pirates 8-16 vs Cards, Cubs and Reds and 32-15 against everyone else. This isn't good when you play ~1/3 of your games against these 3 teams.

The thing you've got to love about Pedro, is his everlasting optimism that a left hander is actually going to throw him a fastball on THIS pitch (Swing and a MISS).

5 years in the league, and this MENSA still can't figure out that an LHP is going to throw him sliders low and away. Keep on trying to load up on that pitch Pedro. Yeah, that'll work. You'd have just as much success hitting that pitch if you just put the bat on your shoulder and waited the pitcher out.

Some day, I'm just going to blatantly interfere with a live ball.

Why isn't Votto being dusted off high and tight?

Fraser actually gets upset when he fails to deliver. Shows some emotion. Are you allowed to do that in baseball?

So this is the 8th series against Reds, Cards and Cubs and Pirates have only won one so far. And each series I am left feeling the other team has the Pirates number. I'm struggling to understand what's going to change that dynamic this season.

Mercer, Stewart, and whomever bats 9th now, does not inspire a lot of confidence for staging a rally.

We really struggle with plate discipline. And our approach is really hard to figure sometimes. There are some terrible at bats with guys in scoring position

Reds are now 2-10 against Cubs and Cards and 6-2 vs Pirates. I don't get it.

All indications of Pedro is that he is an outstanding citizen, teammate and generally a good guy. He definitely needs a change of scenery. I wish him well in the American League, but I'm looking forward to seeing him in a another uniform. The two at bats by him and Starling tonight we're pathetic.

Man, 162 games is just too much for some people to handle. All that matters is the record. Win and get in is the only goal right now. 9 games over and still in the Wild Card at game 70.

R E L A X

How on earth is Pedro not pinch hit for in the 8th. Very poor decision by Hurdle. They took him out in the 9th anyway! ??

Pirates RISP: 0-9 (Walker 0-1, Stewart 0-1, McCutchen 0-1, Harrison 0-1, Marte 0-2, Polanco 0-1, Álvarez 0-2)

They have reworked Vostads delivery and he has been doing quite well ... 12 of 14 appearances were starts ... if he shows he can cut it up here ... goodbye Jeff Locke!!