Pittsburgh Pirates Blowout Indians Again For 11th Consecutive Victory

Ho hum, the Pittsburgh Pirates just keep winning baseball games

Sometimes in sports everything seems to go right for a team. The Pittsburgh Pirates are currently enjoying one of those times. For the past two weeks the Pirates have done nothing but win and it’s been a lot of fun to follow.

Following a 9-4 drubbing of the Cleveland Indians on Tuesday night the Pirates have now 11 games in a row. The team has also scored at least six runs in six consecutive games for the first time since 1948. This stretch has improved the Pirates to 53-49 on the season and has pulled them to within 3 games of the Atlanta Braves for the second National League Wild Card spot.

In what has been the norm lately the Pirate offense got off a scorching start on Tuesday evening.

Corey Dickerson doubled to start the game and his double was followed by Starling Marte‘s 16th home run of the season. Marte’s blast gave him a 16 game hitting streak and the Bucs a 2-0 1st inning lead.

The Indians scored a run of their own in the bottom of the 1st inning, but the Pirate offense would respond with a five spot.

Josh Bell singled to start the inning and Josh Harrison collected a one-out base knock. Two batters later, Dickerson struck again. The red hot Dickerson drove a Shane Bieber pitch to center field that clanked off the outfield wall and went for a triple.

After Dickerson tripled Marte reached on an infield hit to score Dickerson, making the score 5-1 Pirates. Marte’s liability brother – Gregory Polanco – then got in on the fun. After blasting a Bieber pitch to right field for a two-run home run, the Bucs had built up a 7-1 lead and Bieber’s night was over.

In the worst start of his MLB career, Bieber was roughed up by the Pirates to the tune of seven runs on seven hits and a pair of home runs in 1 2/3 innings pitched. Bieber’s ERA skyrockets from 3.53 to 4.80 and his FIP rose from 3.11 to 3.60 after this start.

After the Indians got another run off of Joe Musgrove in the bottom of the 4th inning, the Pirates fired right back in the top of the 5th inning. With one out in the inning, Bell launched his 6th home run of the season over the right field wall. Bell’s homer extended the Pirate lead to 9-2.

After struggling with control early in the game, Musgrove settled in to make yet another strong start for the Pirates. Once Musgrove harnassed his fastball control and began to spot his pitches he settled in to give the Pirates 7 strong innings of work. In his 7 innings of work Musgrove held the Indians to two runs on five hits, he walked one, he allowed a solo home run, and he struck out two.

After Musgrove exited the game lefty Steven Brault took over on the mound for the Pirates. As has been the case more often than not this season, Brault would struggle.

He allowed a solo home run to Brandon Guyer that cut the Pirate lead to 9-3. This was the first home run allowed by the Pirate bullpen since the recently DFA’s Josh Smoker was taken deep on July 6th. Brault also allowed a base hit and walked a pair before getting the final out of the bottom of the 8th inning.

Edgar Santana was tabbed to pitch the bottom of the 9th for the Pirates. Santana allowed a run, but also recorded a strikeout while finishing off the 9-4 Pirate victory.

Sooner or later, the Pirates are going to lose again. But right now enjoy this. Enjoy every single second of this. Winning streaks like this do not happen very often in baseball, and if one fanbase deserves a run like this it’s those of us who are fans of the Pittsburgh Baseball Club.

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On paper, Wednesday afternoon’s 1:10 p.m. series finale looks like a great pitcher’s duel. Jameson Taillon (3.80 ERA, 3.52 FIP) will toe the rubber for the Pirates, while Tito Francona and the Indians will counter with Trevor Bauer (2.44 ERA, 227 FIP). Jamo will be looking to lead the Bucs to their third consecutive series sweep.