PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – It wasn’t easy to watch Tuesday night, but at least for Pirates fans it ended in an 8-4 win over the Padres.
The starting pitchers would combine for 75 pitches in the first inning. Blake Snell pulled after two-thirds of the first. There were 17 walks, 7 hit batters (Phillip Evans and Jorge Mateo twice), 18 hits, 3 errors, 27 left on base, it lasted 4 hours and 7 minutes.
It was a Little League game that you had to pay to enter and had no time limit.
“That is not the cleanest game we will play all year long,” said manager Derek Shelton. “We used just about everybody who was available tonight. We were able to come away with a victory. Sometimes you win ugly, tonight we won ugly.”
“It was weird,” said catcher Jacob Stallings. “I told Vic, the home plate umpire, we’re in the top of the second and it’s only been an hour. It was weird. It was just a weird game. What was it like, it was weird.”
Either credit to the Pirates for stranding 15 San Diego runners or curse the Padres for not being able to drive runs home.
Seriously, Pirates relievers hung on to get key outs, none as big as the double play Kyle Crick got with the bases-loaded and one out in the 8th.
“I know there aren’t a lot of people in the ballpark because of the restrictions, but in the 8th they got into it and Crick got that double play,” Shelton said. “You could feel it. That was pretty sick.”
Jacob Stallings drove in three runs, the first two on a double on a 3-2 pitch with 2 outs in the first. Erik Gonzalez drove in a pair. Each had three hits. Bryan Reynolds and Evans each scored twice.
“Really good effort by our group offensively, they stayed with it the whole game,” Shelton said. “Today we put the ball in play and we got some ground balls that got through. We just had some big swings in big spots and able to score some two-out runs.”
Another short Kuhl outing
Lasting three innings in the opener, four in the second game. Kuhl only able to go 3.2 innings, walking a career-high seven, giving up four runs (three earned) on four hits.
“The fix is in the strike zone,” Shelton said. “He’s just really inconsistent with his timing. His arm slot tends to drift and when that happens you end up being rotational and out of the zone.”
Bullpen keeps them off the plate
Not textbook, but bottom line the Pirates bullpen goes 5.1 innings without giving up a run. They kept the Padres off the board on two hits, 6 walks, 6 strikeouts and a pair of hit batters
Chris Stratton pitched the only clean inning of the 7 Pirates pitchers and got his first win of the season.
“Unbelievable job,” Shelton said. “He bailed us out of a big situation coming in there.”
Up Next
The anticipated return of Joe Musgrove to PNC Park coming off throwing the first no-hitter in Padres history. Tyler Anderson starts for the Pirates with Fan pregame at 5:35, first pitch at 6:35 on 93.7 The Fan.