Final Score: Pirates 2 Nationals 7
Why The Pirates Loss: For the 2nd outing in a row Johan Oviedo seemed to want to throw nothing but breaking pitches and the results this time were disastrous. In 2.1 innings he got racked up for 7 runs on 9 hits and 2 walks while striking out only 1 batter. In the bottom of the 3rd all 4 batters he faced hit the ball hard. He has a fastball that is around 96 to 98 MPH but for some reason he seems to be reluctant to throw it. The bullpen pitched the last 5.2 innings and gave up no runs on 6 hits, walking 2 and striking out 4 batters. After the big day on Saturday the Pirate bats were quiet getting only 6 hits, with just one being an extra base hit. The Nationals scored their first 5 runs after 2 were out in the 1st and 2nd inning. Rich Hill, give Oviedo some lessons. The starting pitching for the Pirates got blitzed to send them to their 9th loss of the season.
Key Moment Of The Game: The Pirates trailed 5-0 going into the top of the 3rd inning. Ji Hwan Bae singled to lead off the inning and worked his way around to 3rd base with 2 out. Bryan Reynolds singled him in to make the score 5-1. Then the Pirates got 2 walks to send Jack Suwinski up with the bases loaded for the 2nd game in a row. He hit a ground ball down the 1st base line and just missed beating the pitcher to the bag by a half step to end the inning. The Nationals added 2 more runs in the bottom of the inning and never were threatened the rest of the way. For this game anyway, the Nationals got the 2 outs hits and the Pirates did not.
The Next Game: Tuesday night, the Rays, in Tampa Bay. The teams with the best 2 records in baseball with square off against each other for a 3 game series in the Fascist state of Florida. The Pirates will need to win at least one game to make this a .500 road trip. Tomorrow I will give the Pirate 29 game report. Around every 30 games or so is a good time to see how the team is doing when compared with the rest of the league. Needless to say this will be their best report card in about 7 years.
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