Final Score: Pirates 5 Mariners 3
Why The Pirates Won: Paul Skenes had another struggling outing, but a struggling Paul Skenes is better than most. He pitched 6 innings, only gave up 3 hits, but one was a home run after a walk to give the Mariners a 2-0 lead. He walked a career high of 4 and hit a batter so there was plenty of traffic on the basepaths. Yes, he did not throw a fastball that touched 100 MPH. The Pirate offense after a slow start scored a run in the bottom of the 4th and 2 in the 5th to take the lead 3-2. In that same inning Yasmani Grandal hit a homer to tie the game. The bottom two in the order Grandal and Michael Taylor came up big, going a combined 3 for 8 with a walk, scoring 3 runs and driving in 1. It was a good win for the Pirates to stop the bleeding. Still, don't you think it's time to take Bednar and his 5.83 ERA out of the closer role, at least for a while.
Key Moments Of The Game: There were two key moments to this game. The first was in the top of the sixth. The Pirates had just taken the lead 3-2 in the bottom of the fifth. With Skenes pitching, the Mariners opened the inning with a Julio Rodriguez double. He was pushed over to third on a relatively deep fly ball to right field. Skenes walked the next batter to put runners on 1st and 3rd with one out. On the very next pitch Dominic Canzone hit into a shortstop unassisted put out at second on to first double play, that Oneil Cruz did not screw up and Paul Skenes was out of the inning. In the bottom of the seventh with one out Michael Taylor had a rare walk. Andrew McCutchen followed that up with a drive down the left field line that would have been a double if he had not pulled up lame. Now the Pirates had 1st and 3rd with one out. Bryan Reynolds struck out and it looked like another big opportunity would be wasted. Oneil Cruz finally got the big 2 out hit, that the Pirates have been lacking this entire losing streak, to drive in two runs that the Pirates ended up needing thanks to David Bednar. Cruz pulled up lame also, twisting his ankle after a sudden stop. Let's hope that he will be back in the lineup today. It was nice to see the losing streak come to an end, and we will see if they can streak in the other direction.
Next Game: This afternoon Mariners in Pittsburgh. Barry Falter will start for the Pirates and let's hope he can befuddle the Mariners. Mariners have more trouble scoring runs than the Pirates and that is hard to believe. This may be just what the doctor ordered for this struggling bullpen.
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