PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Not only is the just win-loss situation bad, the Pirates now are having trouble competing. The latest being a 10-5 loss at Kansas City Tuesday night.
The Bucs have lost 23 of its last 31 and of those 23 losses only 4 have been decided by one run, 13 have been decided by 3 runs or more.
Wil Crowe had pitched fairly well, heading into the fourth inning leading 4-1. The 26-year-old righty would give up a pair of runs in the fourth and then a grand slam as part of five runs in the fifth.
“We were trying to go up,” Crowe said of the pitch to Andrew Benintendi for the grand slam. “I slipped a little bit on my land and missed middle-in. Kind of his nitro zone.”
“We were giving him an opportunity,” said manager Derek Shelton of leaving Crowe in. “It came down to execution of the fastball. I think if you look where Perez was set up and where it was thrown. It just didn’t work out.”
Bryan Reynolds called out for interfering with the catcher due to being out of the batters’ box in the sixth inning. The umpire said he should have stayed in the box which ended up being the third out with the bases loaded.
Shelton said he interpreted the rule as Reynolds should have vacated the box to get out of the way of a play at the plate. He also noted that the catcher didn’t try to get the out at home, rather only wanted to tag Reynolds on a check swing.
They are evaluating the injury to outfielder Ka’ai Tom, who left an inning after being hit by a pitch on the hand.
Minor better news
It was a good day, for the most part, in the Pirates minor league system.
Related
Cahill recovering
RHP Trevor Cahill threw 30 pitches as part of live batting practice on Tuesday. They will evaluate him in the next couple of days and see what the next step is. The 33-year-old is 1-5 with a 6.81 ERA in his first year with the Pirates.
Negro Leagues Museum
As a team, the Pirates got a guided tour of the Negro Leagues Museum headquartered in Kansas City. Shelton highly recommends if you have never visited.
“For our guys to be able to go out and see a little bit of the history and culture of the Negro Leagues,” Shelton said. “Especially because of how pertinent it is in Pittsburgh with the teams and players we had. It’s really important.”
“It’s life changing. To hear some of our guys say ‘I can’t wait to bring my dad here’. That made it worthwhile for me.”
Up Next
Pirates get Wednesday off and return home on Thursday hosting Miami. The game will mark the return of Ke’Bryan Hayes, out since the second game of the season with a wrist injury.