6/7/23 – By Craig W. Toth – @BucsBasement on Twitter
Plant this game in April, and nine times out of ten the Pirates walk away a winner. Not just because of the record, but also because the Pittsburgh Rotation was on a heater of quality games. Eleven in a row to be exact; while posting a combined 3.35 ERA with a 1.24 WHIP for the entire month.
Five runs should be enough to put your team in position to win the game.
Sure, they had the winning run in the on deck circle as Carlos Santana and Ke’Bryan Hayes stepped to the plate in the bottom of the 9th; but at that point Pirates Fans are praying for a little flair of the dramatics from their ball club.
Clearly the game shouldn’t never have gotten to this point.
Yet, when the first seven opposing batters cross home, you are actually pretty lucky to end up in that position.
Either way, it ends up in the loss column, as your Pirates drop 2 of 3 to the worst team in Major League Baseball; with today’s action finishing in a 9-5 A’s victory.
News & Notes
- Roansy Contreras was instructed by Pirates Pitching Coach Oscar Marin to add a third pitch to his arsenal in the offseason; a changeup that would keep hitters off-balance, while allowing his mid to upper 90’s fastball and wipeout slider to pile up the whiffs. That pitch never came to fruition. In addition, he has all but dropped the curveball; which produced a .212 AVG Against-second only to his slider in 2022.
- In a the short day for the Pirates Starter, Roansy’s final line stood at 0.1IP/6H/7ER/2BB/1K. For the season he know has a 5.91 ERA with a 1.54 WHIP across 56.1 innings. Maybe, it’s time for the Pirates to follow through with the plan to get him some work out of the bullpen before Vince Velasquez hit the shelf again. I’m just not sure who takes his spot in the rotation.
- On a positive note Ke’Bryan Hayes and Rodolfo Castro came to play as Hayes collected 3 hits on the day, and Rudy provided most of the run production; knocking in 3, with one coming on a monster solo-shot.
- Unfortunately for Rob Zastryzny he may be falling into the Chase DeJong path to the waiver wire, with his 3 walk and one strikeout performance as the fireman for Contreras.
- Luis Ortiz was called upon in long relief; giving up 2 runs on 10 hits, with 2 walks and one strikeout in 5 innings.
- Angel Perdomo has been a pleasant surprise since having his contract selected on June 3rd. In 4 innings, across 3 appearances he has not allowed a hit or walked a batter; striking out 6 along the way.
The Pirates get their customary Thursday off before welcoming the New York Mets to PNC Park for a weekend set.
First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 PM EST with Rich Hill (5-5/4.41 ERA/1.38 WHIP) set to go Pittsburgh. At the moment the Mets have not announced their starter.
Steel City Pirates 