Pittsburgh Pirates Snap Four Game Losing Streak

The Pittsburgh Pirates have ended their four game losing streak

The Pittsburgh Pirates are now 38-46 this season. This comes as the result of a 3-0 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Tuesday afternoon. With the win, the Bucs even this 4 game series at a win each.

Jameson Taillon started for the Pirates on Tuesday and helped lead the Bucs to victory. A pair of Andrew McCutchen home runs helped the cause as well. Most of all, it was good to see the Bucs played a well rounded game after losing four in a row to the two worst teams in the National League.

The Philadelphia Phillies threatened in the bottom of the 1st inning.

Freddy Galvis doubled with 1 out and then stole third base. However, Jameson Taillon was able to pitch out of it.

Taillon struck out Aaron Altherr looking for the second out of the inning. Then, he got Maikel Franco to ground out to end the inning.

More from Rum Bunter

The Pittsburgh Pirates would draw first blood in the top of the 3rd inning.

With 1 out, Adam Frazier drew a walk. Josh Harrison then added to his National League leading hit by pitching total when he was hit by a pitch for the 19th time this season. An Andrew McCutchen single would then load the bases with just 1 out.

John Jaso would hit a sacrifice fly to center field to score Frazier and give the Pirates a 1-0 lead. However, Harrison tried to advance to third on the play and was thrown out. This ended the inning and thwarted what could have been a bigger inning for the Pirates.

Nick Williams reached on a Josh Harrison error to start the bottom of the 4th inning. He would then advance to third with just 1 out on an Odubel Herrera single.

After this, Jameson Taillon went to work. He used a filthy curveball to strikeout Andrew Knapp swinging. Then, he struck out his counterpart, Mark Leiter Jr., to end the inning.

Jameson Taillon struggled with fastball command on Tuesday afternoon. However, his curveball was absolutely filthy. Thanks in large part to this curveball he struck out a career-high 9 batters on Tuesday afternoon.

Unfortunately, due to a high pitch count, Taillon was only able to work 5 innings on Tuesday. In these 5 innings he held the Phillies scoreless on 4 hits, 2 walks, and the aforementioned 9 strikeouts.

Andrew McCutchen led off the top of the 6th inning with his 15th home run of the season. This extended the Pirate lead to 2-0. After David Freese was hit by a pitch with 1 out, Mark Leiter Jr. was removed from the game for Luis Garcia who would get the final 2 outs of the inning for the Phillies.

Daniel Hudson replaced Taillon in the bottom of the 6th inning. While the 2017 season has been a struggle for Hudson, he was great on Tuesday. He retired the Phillies in order while recording a pair of strikeouts thanks to a nasty slider.

After Garcia retired the Pirates in order in the top of the 7th inning, Tony Watson took over for the Bucs in the bottom half of the inning.

Watson started the inning by walking Andrew Knapp, who entered the at bat just 3-for-23 against left-handed pitchers this season. Then, he allowed an infield hit to pinch-hitter Cameron Perkins who entered the game with an impressive 4 hits in 28 at bats this season.

After this, Clint Hurdle and head trainer Todd Tomczyk would check Watson for a blister. Having Watson start the inning was a poor decision by Hurdle, leaving him in after the blister issue was an even bigger blunder.

Ty Kelly then laid down a sacrifice bunt to put runners on second and third with just 1 out for the Phillies. Watson would then walk Freddy Galvis to load the bases with 1 out. This spelled the end of the day for Watson, as Juan Nicasio replaced him.

On just the second pitch he threw, Nicasio would get Aaron Altherr to hit into an inning ending 6-4-3 double play. This put out the fire and kept the score 2-0 Pirates.

I have always been a huge fan of Clint Hurdle. However, his bullpen management in 2017 has been infuriating. The 7th inning on Tuesday was just the latest example of this. Not only should Tony Watson have not started the 7th inning, he was also left in the game too long once his blister issue popped up. Luckily, this time, it did not bite the Pirates.

With 1 out in the top of the 8th inning Andrew McCutchen his second solo home run of the game. This extended the Pirate lead to 3-0 and catapulted McCutchen past Josh Bell for the team lead in home runs with 16.

Juan Nicasio threw the first pitch of the bottom of the 8th inning and then the skies opened up. Following a brief rain delay, the bottom of the 8th would resume with Nicasio still on the mound. Nicasio would proceed to retire the Phillies in order.

Felipe Rivero pitched the bottom of the 9th inning for the Pirates. After walking Andrew Knapp and allowing a base hit to Andres Blanco with 1 out, Rivero would record back-to-back strikeouts to end the game in a 3-0 Pirate victory.

Next: Wade LeBlanc has Been Sneaky Good

Game 3 of this 4 game series will feature a pitching matchup of Gerrit Cole and Ben Lively. First pitch from Citizens Bank Park is scheduled for 7:05 PM on Wednesday night.

Home/Pirates News