Pittsburgh Pirates Overcome Early Deficit to Blowout Nationals

For the first time this season the Pittsburgh Pirates have won back-to-back games after defeating the Washington Nationals in the first of a four-game series on Thursday night

When a team is not expected ot finish with a good record in a baseball season you may have to reach to find positives. This could be the case at times for the Pittsburgh Pirates this season. Thursday night, however, was undoubtedly a positive night for the Pirates.

The team quickly fell into a 3-0 hole against the Washington Nationals. Despite this, the team rally to defeat the Nats. Following a 9-4 victory over the Nationals the Pirates got back to .500 on the season 3-3.

Seeing the Pirates not just lay down and die, but instead fight back to win is a great sign. While there are plenty of negative marks on Derek Shelton as a manager thus far one thing he has always done a great job of is cultivating a culture where the Pittsburgh Pirates never die and always go down swinging. This is something we did not always see at the end of the Clint Hurdle Era.

1st inning defense proves problematic

Hoy Park made the start in right field for the Pittsburgh Pirates. A career infielder for the most part Park made multiple 1st inning defensive follies in right field on Thursday night and each mistake led to Washington runs.

With 1 out and the bases loaded Keibert Ruiz hit a routine fly ball to right-center. Park completely whiffed on the ball, leading it to drop for a run-scoring single. While it still would have scored a run had it been caught, it would have been a sacrifice fly and the second out of the inning.

Yadiel Hernandez then followed with a fly ball to right field that Park once again completely botched. This time his botched allowed a pair of runs to score and very quickly the National held a 3-0 lead.

With a regular outfielder in right fielder for the Pittsburgh Pirates, odds are, they would have gotten out of the 1st inning trailing just 1-0. Additionally, starting pitcher JT Brubaker likely would have thrown at least 10 less pitches in the inning.

It’s time for the Park experiment in the outfield to end. Until help from Triple-A arrives the Pirate outfield needs to be Jake Marisnick, Bryan Reynolds, and Ben Gamel every day.

JT Brubaker pitches better than his final line

Making his second start of the season the final stat line for JT Brubaker was not a pretty one. In 4.1 innings pitched he allowed 4 runs on 5 hits, 4 walks, and 5 strikeouts. However, he pitched better than this line.

Brubaker generated a game high 8 swings-and-misses. As was covered above he should have gotten out of the 1st inning with allowing just 1 run. The 4th run he allowed was a run that scored after he exited the game, and came around to score after Anthony Banda allowed a pair of tough luck base hits that were weakly hit.

Overall it was a strong bounce back start by Brubaker. Especially after he had walked the bases loaded just four batters into the game. This start was definitely a step in the right direction for Brubaker.

Pittsburgh Pirates punch back

After falling behind 3-0 in the top of the 1st inning designated hitter Daniel Vogelbach led off the bottom half of the inning with a home run. His 1st home run as a Pirate cut the Washington lead to 3-1.

In the bottom of the 3rd inning the Pirate offense exploded.

Vogelbach singled to start the inning and it was followed by the 2nd home run of the season by Bryan Reynolds. The 2-run blast by Reynolds tied the game at 3. Yoshi Tsutsugo and Ben Gamel recorded back-to-back singles with 1 out in the inning.

Kevin Newman then stepped to the plate and smoked a 2-run double into the left-center field gap. While Newman was thrown out trying to stretch it into a triple, it gave the Pirates a 5-3 lead after 3 innings of play.

Their lead grew to 6-4 in the bottom of the 5th inning when Roberto Perez drove in Newman for his first RBI as a Pirate. After Vogelbach doubled to start the 7th, Reynolds walked, and Ke’Bryan Hayes hit into a force out, a Tsutsugo sacrifice fly plated Vogey, making the score 7-4 Pirates.

The Pirates ran the score to 9-4 in the 7th inning when Vogelback drove in a run with his 4th hit of the night. Gamel then walked with the bases loaded later in the inning to set the final at 9-4 Pirates.

Roansy Contreras flashes his potential

Roansy Contreras entered the season as the top pitching prospect in the Pirate farm system. In Thursday night’s victory he showed why. Contreras pitched3 scoreless inning and kept National batters off balance in his effort.

Contreras retired all 9 of the 11 batters he faced while striking out 5. The four hardest thrown pitches of the night were four-seamed fastballs by Contreras, his curveball looked wicked and he kept National hitters off balance throughout night.

Moving forward there is no reason for him not to be in the starting rotation, especially if he is going to continue to be on the major league roster. Contreras would likely already be the team’s best starting rotation. Get him into the rotation, Pirates.

The second game of this four-game series is schedule for 6:35 PM ET on Friday night. Mitch Keller (9.00 ERA, 5.73 FIP) is scheduled to start for the Pittsburgh Pirates while the Washington Nationals pan to send Erick Fedde (3.60 ERA, 4.78 FIP) to the mound.