Final Score: Pirates 7 Tigers 4
Why The Pirates Won: Mitch Keller gave the Pirates their 5th straight quality start. He was not great but there were encouraging signs. In 6 innings he struck out 9, gave up 2 runs on 5 hits, while walking 3 but 2 of those were in the first inning. He had the swing and miss pitch going, which is a very good sign. The offense came alive with 3 slumping hitters contributing heavily. Andrew McCutchen, Jack Suwinski, and Bryan Reynolds all had 2 hits each with Reynolds hitting a solo home run in the bottom of the 6th. Conner (The Signing Of The Decade) Joe and Jared Triolo each had 2 hits and 2 RBI's. Joey Bart singled in 2 runs in the 3rd. He should continue to catch at least until he cools off. Henry Davis needs to chill for a while. The bullpen did get nicked up a little but hung tough when it had to. Aroldis Chapman came in the top of the 8th with runners on 2nd and 3rd, only one out, and struck out both batters to end the threat. Aren't you glad the Pirates did not sign Baez. Ryder Ryan came into the top of the 9th and got touched up for one run on 2 hits, but you felt that the game was never in doubt, especially when Chapman got out of that jam. It was the best chance the Tiger had to make a game of it. This was a total team win with everyone contributing.
Key moment Of The Game: The bottom of the 3rd inning, the Pirates were leading 3-1 having just scored 3 runs in the bottom of the 2nd. With one out Jack Suwinski singled. McCutchen flew out to right field for the 2nd out. Rowdy Tellez got hit by a pitch and Connor Joe walked to load the bases. Jared Triolo took the first pitched and drilled a single to centerfield to knock in 2 runs, giving the Pirates a 5-1 lead. The 2 out lightening was back, and you had a real good feeling about this game. That feeling turned out to be true, even though the Tigers made it a little interesting, the Pirates had a solid win to go 9-2.
Next Game: This afternoon, Tigers in Pittsburgh. We will see if Martin Perez can keep the starting rotation's streak of quality starts alive today. For those of you who aren't familiar with the definition of a quality start, it is going 6 innings and giving up 3 runs or less. I do not know who came up with this, but to show you how times have changed if Warren Spahn or Juan Marichal went only 6 innings and gave up 3 runs people would wonder what was wrong with them. The Pirate pitchers during this streak have done a little more than the quality start only allowing 2 runs at the most during the streak. The worst the Pirates will do on this homestand is 3-2 which is acceptable, but it would be nice to go 4-1 because a tough road trip lies ahead.
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