PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) - Down one in the top of the 9th inning, the Pirates loaded the bases with nobody out and did not score. Bucs fell to Colorado 4-3 Friday night at Coors Field.
Colorado took the lead in the bottom of the 8th on a pinch-hit two run double from Braxton Fulford. Mason Montgomery entered the game with one out in the bottom of the 8th. He recorded the second out and then gave up two singles before Fulford's big hit.
"One out, just getting in there one pitch at a time. Got the first guy and then a couple of singles that got through and then just kind of got behind the last guy and gave him an opportunity," said Montgomery.
The Rockies best releiver Antonio Senzatela entered the game in the 9th inning. Marcell Ozuna singled to right field to lead off the top of the 9th. Brandon Lowe hit a hard ground ball at Ezequiel Tovar and it went under his glove and off his foot into left field to give Pittsburgh first and third with nobody out. Endy Rodriguez drew a full count walk to load the bases. The Bucs pinched hit Tyler Callihan for Esmerlyn Valdez. Callihan struck out for the first out. Then Jared Triolo came to the plate and grounded into a 6-4-3 game ending double play.
"It's really tough. When you battle back, I didn't think our at bats were good at the beginning of the game, he (Freeland) kept us off balance, I didn't think we did a great job, we were able to stay with it and found a way to score some runs in the 8th and then in the 9th to get bases loaded, we gotta find a way to come through in that situation and at least get one, and more at times," said Manager Don Kelly.
The Pirates were dominated by Rockies starter Kyle Freeland for most of the game. He retired 16 in a row until the top of the 8th inning with one out, Valdez ripped a double to center field. Triolo lined an RBI double to right field to score Valdez and get the Bucs within one run. Freeland was yanked with one out in the top of the 8th.
Despite being scratched from the starting lineup due to left groin soreness, Bryan Reynolds came into the game to pinch-hit with the tying runner on second. Reynolds singled up the middle to tie the game. He extended his on base streak to 25 games and his hit streak to 10 games.
"He was good enough to pinch-hit. He's day to day, not exactly sure what it is, abductor or groin, we'll just take it day by day and hopefully he's well enough to play. It was a big at bat by Bryan," said Kelly. "He came up in that inning and said he was good to go and we checked with the trainer just to make sure, we don't want to do something that will set him back even more. Going into the game we weren't sure, he was going to get some treatment and see how it went. Anytime we can have Bryan hit we definitely want to have Bryan up there."
"I don't know, my leg just started bothering me randomly," said Reynolds on what he was going through before the game. "It was bothering me running around and stuff, figured it was smart to not play the outfield. I expect it to be feeling better."
That closed the book on Freeland. He went 7.1 innings, allowed 2 runs on 4 hits and struck out 8.
"The curveball was pretty effective. He was using it for strikes and for chase and then he would stun with the fastball and kept us off balance with those pitches," said Kelly.
Bubba Chandler pitched 6 strong innings allowing 2 runs on 6 hits, he struck out 1 and walked 2. He had his best command in a start this season with 49 strikes thrown on 74 pitches.
"I thought it was some of the best stuff he's had ,in the zone, throwing offspeed, this can be a tough place to pitch sometimes with the breaking balls not necessarily always working the same. I thought he did a nice job of competing with it, staying in the zone. I thought he did a real nice job in the 6th inning. First and second, finding a way to slow things down in that inning. It looked like he started to scatter a little bit and lose a little bit of command and he was able to pull it back in," said Kelly.
Chandler threw just 16 pitches in the first two innings and set himself for a long outing because of how quickly he was able to work early on.
"It was huge, to be efficient at the beginning, throwing strikes with all those pitches and to be efficient throughout the whole outing. He ended up with 74 pitches and be so efficient, I thought this was the best outing he had," said Kelly.
Game 2 of the series in Colorado is Saturday at 9:10. Paul Skenes (6-6, 2.85) vs Tomoyuki Sugano (7-4, 4.54) is the pitching matchup.
The Pirates loaded the bases with nobody out in the 9th and did not score.
The Pirates loaded the bases with nobody out in the 9th and did not score.
