Recap of the Pittsburgh Pirates Road Trip

A particularly poor road trip has come to an end for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Things were looking good for the team after sweeping the Phillies and taking two of three from the Diamondbacks. The Pirates were in sole possession of second place and were looking to head into the all-star break atop the National League Central.

Game one with St. Louis

Charlie Morton pitched an absolute gem and seven scoreless innings while only allowing one hit. Unfortunately for Morton, his counterpart was all-star Adam Wainwright who also pitched seven scoreless innings. The Pirates had many chances to score but ultimately fell victim to a walk-off home run surrendered by Justin Wilson to Matt Adams.

Game two at St. Louis

Tuesday night’s match-up of Vance Worley and Carlos Martinez was nowhere near the pitchers duel that Monday night was. Nonetheless, the Pirates held a 4-2 lead in the fifth until Worley surrendered 2 run double to Matt Holiday that would tie the game at 4. Then it was Ernesto Frieri‘s turn to serve up a walk-off home run, this time to Kolten Wong as the Pirates were defeated 5-4.

Game three at St. Louis

The Pirates players looked discouraged from the previous two outcomes and trailed the entire game before ultimately losing 5-2 on ESPN.

Game four at St. Louis

The Pirates were paced by multi-hit efforts from Andrew McCutchen, Pedro Alvarez, Josh Harrison and Russell Martin as they erupted for nine runs. Starting pitcher Edinson Volquez allowed one run in what became the first complete game thrown by a Pirate in 2014. It was an all-around dominant performance from the Pirates.

Game five at Cincinnati

The Pirates led 5-3 as Tony Watson entered in what appeared to be a quick 1-2-3 eighth inning. Watson disposed of his first two foes with ease before surrendering five hits in a row as the Reds took a 6-5 lead into the ninth inning. Aroldis Chapman struck out the side as the Pirates lost another game due to poor output from their bullpen.

Game six at Cincinnati 

Charlie Morton allowed just one hit in his first five innings and then he imploded in sixth inning surrendering a 5-4 lead to the Reds. Andrew McCutchen hit the game tying home run in the ninth inning and the game wining home run in the eleventh inning making McCutchen the first Pirates player to accomplish this feat.

Game seven at Cincinnati

Francisco Liriano came back from the disabled lost and continued to pitch poorly as he has for most of the season. He struggled with command all day and allowed three runs in four innings on 94 pitches. The Pirates were never able to recover and lost 6-3.

The Pirates sit at 49-46 as they enter the all-star break. No game in July is a must-win and the Pirates can recover from this 2-5 road trip. In order to do that though, some serious issues need to be addressed. More on that later in the week.

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