Pittsburgh Pirates Give Game Away Against The Boston Red Sox

On Thursday, the Pittsburgh Pirates and Boston Red Sox played a makeup of last Thursday’s rainout

Thursday afternoon the Pittsburgh Pirates were looking to bounce back from a very ugly three-game sweep at the hands of the Cincinnati Reds. The team was looking to do so against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park in a makeup of last Thursday’s rainout.

While being swept by the Reds, the Pirates did not do anything well. The offense was abysmal (0-for-24 with runners in scoring position), the defense was shaky, and the pitching left a lot to be desired. Unfortunately, the Pittsburgh Pirates’ poor play would continue on Thursday in a 4-3 loss to fall to 3-6 on the season.

After struggling to score throughout their series against the Reds, the Pittsburgh Pirates did not wait long to score on Thursday afternoon.

The Pittsburgh Pirates would continue to threaten in the first inning. McCutchen’s home run was followed by back-to-back singles by Gregory Polanco and David Freese. However, Josh Harrison and Josh Bell would then record back-to-back strikeouts to end the inning.

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In the top of the 6th inning, the Pirates would add to their lead. With one out Gregory Polanco, who finished 2-for-4 with a double, doubled and then David Freese walked. This led to Red Sox manager John Farrell lifting Eduardo Rodriguez from the game.

Heath Hembree took over for the Red Sox and would strikeout Josh Harrison. However, on the play, Gregory Polanco was running and stole third base. Red Sox catcher Christian Vasquez would throw the ball into left field allowing Polanco to score, and this made it 3-1 Pirates.

Rodriguez pitched 5 1/3 innings for the Red Sox. He allowed three runs, two earned, on four hits, four walks, and eight strikeouts. Rodriguez and his strikeout total benefited from a large strike zone on Thursday afternoon.

In the top of the 7th inning, the Pirates would threaten against Heath Hembree. After a double by Chris Stewart and a single by Jordy Mercer, the Pirates had runners on the corners with no one out.

However, Starling Marte struck out for the second out of the inning. Then Andrew McCutchen would fly out to right field to end the inning. This kept the score at 3-1 heading to the 7th inning stretch.

Not scoring this half inning would come back to bite the Pirates.

Chad Kuhl started for the Pirates on Thursday afternoon and pitched a great game. He pitched a career-high tying 6 1/3 innings and allowed just one run on five hits, no walks, and he struck out six batters.

Kuhl also retired 13 of the last 15 batters he faced. And the final batter he faced, Xander Bogaerts, reached on an infield hit on a ball third baseman Josh Harrison probably should have fielded.

Felipe Rivero would relieve Kuhl with one out and a man on first base in the bottom of the 7th inning. Rivero got Marco Hernandez to ground out to third base, which led to him reaching on a fielder’s choice, for the second out of the inning. He then got Christian Vasquez to ground out to Harrison to end the inning.

David Freese drew a one-out walk in the top of the 8th inning. This was his third walk of the day, to go along with a single. This continued his insanely hot start to the season (.552 on-base percentage and 223 wRC+). However, the Pirates would strand him.

In the bottom of the 8th inning, Clint Hurdle gave the ball to Daniel Hudson. He got Brock Holt to ground out to lead off the inning, however, things would then start to come unraveled.

Hudson would issue a four-pitch walk to Dustin Pedroia and then Andrew Benintendi reached on a bloop single to center field. On Benintendi’s single, second baseman Philip Gosselin made a horrible play.

First off, Gosselin did not get to second base quickly enough. Secondly, he failed to field a throw by Starling Marte. Had he done either of these things, Pedroia would have been out at second base. Gosselin was charged with an error on the play, and that error would prove to be extremely costly.

After the Benintendi single, Hudson would be lifted for Juan Nicasio. Daniel Hudson threw nearly 30 pitches in relief last night, due to this Nicasio should have started the bottom of the 8th inning for the Pirates.

Juan Nicasio would start out by walking Mookie Betts, this was an at-bat during which Nicasio was squeezed pretty badly. Both balls two and four to Betts should have been called strikes. Nicasio then gave up a double to Hanley Ramirez. On the play, the Red Sox would score a pair of runs to tie the game at 3. Thankfully, the Pirates were able to throw out Betts at home plate.

Ramirez’s double was a play that Starling Marte misplayed horribly. It was a ball that should have been caught and gone down as a sacrifice fly to simply cut the Pirates lead to 3-2.

After intentionally walking Mitch Moreland, Xander Bogaerts recorded a RBI single to give the Red Sox a 4-3 lead. Nicasio then struck out Marco Hernandez to end the inning.

Unfortunately for the Pirates, the end of the inning did not come before they were sunk by some horrendous defense. Due to his pitch count last night, going to Hudson over Nicasio to start the inning was a poor managerial decision by Clint Hurdle too.

In the top of the 9th inning, the Red Sox turned to closer Craig Kimbrel. Adam Frazier would record a pinch-hit single to lead off the inning. Francisco Cervelli would then fly out to the warning track in right-center field for the first out of the inning, and then Frazier was caught stealing for the second out of the inning. Jordy Mercer would then ground out to second base to end the game.

Thursday’s loss was an absolutely abysmal one for the Pirates. The Red Sox did not win this game, the Pirates lost it. With their inability to get runners home and poor defense in the 8th inning the Pirates, quite honestly, deserved to lose today. This is one that stings.

Next: The Bucs Just Need To Survive April

This weekend the Pirates will travel to Wrigley Field for a three-game series with the Chicago Cubs. It will be the first of 19 games between the National League Central division rivals this season.

Gerrit Cole will start for the Pirates tomorrow, while the Cubs will counter with Kyle Hendricks. First pitch is scheduled for 2:20 PM.