Pittsburgh Pirates Blow 10th Inning Lead in Walk Off Loss in Miami

The Pittsburgh Pirates rallied in the 9th and 10th innings, but failed to capitalize on scoring opportunities further before blowing a lead and getting walked off by the Miami Marlins

Entering Wednesday night’s game the Pittsburgh Pirates had won four games in a row for the first time since 2019. It appeared the Bucs would be able to secure their 5th consecutive victory, and honestly should have, but, unfortunately, they came up short.

Following a gut wrenching 5-4 loss in 10 innings the Pittsburgh Pirates are now 38-51 on the season. Despite the loss they are still putting together a strong road trip ahead of the All-Star Break, currently sitting at 4-2 on the current trip.

JT Brubaker turns in another strong start

JT Brubaker likely does not get the credit he deserves for how well he has pitched this season. His strong season continued on Wednesday night when he was in control from the start on his way to turning in another strong start.

Brubaker pitched 7 scoreless innings, allowing just three hits and walking a pair. He generated 15 swings-and-misses on his way to racking up nine strikeouts in the outing. Brubaker lowered his ERA on the season to 4.02 and FIP to 3.73.

The only time the Marlins threatened against Brubaker was in the 4th inning. Miami got a double to start the inning, which was followed by Brubaker issuing a walk. Brubaker then got back-to-back double plays to second baseman Josh VanMeter, the latter of which VanMeter and Oneil Cruz made a terrific play on to turn into an inning ending 4-6-3 double play.

Pirates squeak out a run in the 5th inning

Both starting pitchers were locked in on Wednesday night. This led to the Pirates having to somewhat manufacture a run in the 5th inning.

Oneil Cruz drew a to start the inning. Cruz then stole second base, and would come around to score on a Ben Gamel hit to right field. Expecting a throw home, Gamel would attempt to go to second base. The throw was cut off, however, and Gamel was thrown out trying to race back to first base.

Controversial hit by pitch sparks 8th inning Marlin rally

Looking to protect a 1-0 lead Duane Underwood Jr. took the mound for the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 8th inning. After Underwood Jr. retired the first two batters of the inning it looked like he would do just that. However, a controversial hit by pitch call would turn the inning.

With two outs Underwood Jr. threw a pitch up and in and looked like it may have clipped Joey Wendle. The original call on the field was that the pitch did not hit Wendle, but the Marlins challenged the call and it was overturned.

The Wendle hit by pitch was followed by a walk and another hit by pitch. Avísail Garcia then lined a hit into center field that scored a pair of runs, but on the play Jesús Aguilar was thrown out trying to go to third to end the inning. When the dust settled, the Marlins led 2-1.

Yes, it is very possible that Underwood Jr.’s pitch did not hit Wendle. To be honest it did not appear to hit Wendle. That said, allowing things to come unraveled the way they did is something Underwood Jr. can not allow to happen in that situation.

9th and 10th inning rallies not enough… in part to mistakes on offense

Trialing for the first time in the game, the Pirates drew back-to-back walks to start the 9th inning. Michael Chavis then ripped a double off the left field wall. His double score Daniel Vogelbach to tie the game at 2.

With runners on second and third with no one out the Pirates appeared primed to take the lead. Well, a poor at-bat by Cruz in which he tried to do too much resulted in an infield pop out. Ben Gamel then had a poor at-bat of his own that resulted in him striking out looking. Jack Suwinski then put a good swing on a ball, but flew out to end the inning.

After Yerry De Los Santos pitched a scoreless bottom of the 9th inning, the Pirate offense struck again in the top of the 10th. Jason Delay reached on an error and Jake Marisnick had a bunt single to load the bases with no one out. After Kevin Newman had a woeful at-bat that ended in a three pitch strikeout, two of which came from Newman chasing pitches well out of the zone, Vogelbach grounded out to score Suwinski and give the Pirates a 3-2 lead.

Hayes then smoked a single to center field scoring Delay. Third base coach Mike Rabello made the poor decision to send Marisnick who was thrown out easily at the plate, sending the game to the bottom of the 10th with the Pirates leading 4-2.

While the Pirates were able to mount rallies in the 9th and 10th innings, they easily could have and probably should have scored more runs than they did. Had this happened, they may have secured their 5th consecutive victory.

It’s time to worry about David Bednar

When the Pirates handed David Bednar a 4-2 lead entering the bottom of the 10th everyone had be feeling confident. The confidence only grew after Bryan De La Cruz made a pair of base running blunders for the Marlins, the latter of which resulted in him being tagged out by Hayes for the first out of the inning. Well, this is where things really started to go sideways for Bednar.

With one out in the inning Bednar allowed a 104.0 MPH base hit to Jon Berti that plated a run and put runners on the corners with just one out. Aguilar then ripped a 103.3 MPH single of his own to tie the game. Following an intentional walk, Brian Anderson hit a ball 96.6 MPH off of Bednar. While Cruz may have been able to turn two on the play to end the inning, he fired home instead to cut down a run.

Bednar would then uncork a wild pitch. On the wild pitch Aguilar broke for the plate and scored the winning run. Although, had Delay made a better throw to the plate and Bednar who was waiting for the throw Aguilar would have been out.

For a few weeks now Bednar has not looked like himself. He has struggled with command and has allowed far too much hard contact. These concerning trends continued in Wednesday night’s loss. At this point it’s time to wonder if Bednar’s overuse early this season, having multiple 30+ pitch outings, and a 50+ pitch outing, has caught up to him.

Zach Thompson (4.38 ERA, 5.61 FIP) will toe the rubber for the Pittsburgh Pirates against his former team in the fourth and final game of the series on Thursday afternoon. The Miami Marlins are slated to counter with lefty Braxton Garrett (4.33 ERA, 3.79 FIP). First pitch from LoanDepot Park is scheduled for 12:10 PM ET.