Pirates Morning Report: Punchless Pirates Waste A Great Skenes Performance

By vet4golfing51 on July 24, 2024

Final Score: Pirates 1 Cardinals 2

Final Score: It is hard to win a game when you start 4 players that should either be in AAA or DFA. These four magnificent players are Jack Suwinski, Yasmani Grandal, Josh Palacios, and Jared Triolo. As a group they went 3 for 13 which is better than I would expect them to do. Let's set the record straight on Josh (High Energy Waste Of Cells) Palacios. He has a career WAR of -.3. His OPS+ is 80 with a whopping slash line of .231/.284/.371. and he is a below average fielder for his career. He is not major league material. With almost half the lineup below major league level, it is not surprising the Pirates scored only 1 run. They could not muster an offense against an aging overweight washed up pitcher. They can't score when they put their best lineup on the field. Paul Skenes pitched a brilliant 8 innings giving up 1 run on just 2 hits. You could argue either way that Skenes should have come out for the 9th. My own opinion was he should have not. He had thrown 90+ pitches at that point. All the Pirates talk about is not trying to overwork their young arms. Well, you just did last night. However you slice it, this was a very hard loss to swallow and sets up the Pirates to most likely lose the series.

Key Moments Of The Game: Twice the Pirates loaded the bases, in the bottom of the 2nd and the 5th, and failed to score. Andrew McCutchen's at bat was particularly disappointing in the bottom of the 2nd. He took 2 called strikes with the first one being right down the middle. He then popped out to centerfield on a 3-2 count. Nick Gonzales's at bat was not much better. He did swing at a strike but then swung at a pitch on a 1-1 count that was at least a foot outside to hit a little dibbler in front of the plate to end the inning. They were able to tie the game in the bottom of the 8th but then the Cardinals scored in the 9th to take the 2-1 lead. In the bottom of the 9th the Pirates showed their true merit by not putting a ball in play. Two of the three strikeouts were by AAA players.

Next Game: This afternoon, Cardinals in Pittsburgh. Every time I feel the Pirates have no chance to win a game, they somehow surprise me and pull it out. Why Martin Perez is starting I have no idea. Will the Pirates offense wake up today? They better with Perez pitching. If they lose today, it will be the third straight series they have lost to the Cardinals. That is not a path to the playoffs.