Pittsburgh Pirates Lose To Double-A Affiliate Altoona Curve 8-6

Thirteen years ago, the Pittsburgh Pirates made the trek to Altoona, Pennsylvania and lost 8-5. History repeated itself today as the “Pirates” fell to the Double-A Altoona Curve 8-6.

The game featured Altoona players playing for the Major League club and big leaguers like Tony Watson and Jason Grilli playing for the “Curve.” The player who had the most impact in the game was number three starter James McDonald who looked lost in the first inning when he allowed four Altoona runs.

The “Pirates” got back into the game when Pirates big leaguer Watson, pitching for the “Curve,” allowed a Starling Marte grand slam to tie the game at four apiece.  Confused yet?  Yeah, us too.

The “Curve” plated four runs when Nate Baker, a Curve pitcher pitching for the “Pirates,” had a disaster of an inning with walks and wild pitches.  (The clubs must have been pissed about drawing straws before the game–the Bucs pissed that JMac sucked, the Curve can question the pickup of Watson, and the Buccos have to be pissed about the last guy picked–Nate Baker)

Russell Martin was taken from the game when Baker was pulled from the mound and wholesale changes happened on both sides with mostly minor leaguers—and ahem, the Buccos bench players finishing off the game.

It’s hard for us to see a bench with John McDonald, Josh Harrison and Jose Tabata having much of an impact in the bigs this season and that was on display in front of the largest crowd ever to see a game at People’s Natural Gas Field in Altoona.

The game is pretty cool, even though the team took some Twitter jabs and the Bucs used the exhibition to announce the extension of Altoona as a Pirates affiliate.  Okay, now that the stupid shit is outta the way, let’s play ball.  And oh, yeah, there is still time to fix the roster, too.