Pittsburgh Pirates Blow Lead and Tie, Lose 8th in a Row

Following a blown lead against the Chicago Cubs on Friday night the Pittsburgh Pirates have now lost eight games in a row

The Pittsburgh Pirates have now lost eight games in a row. This comes following a 6-5 loss against the Chicago Cubs on Friday night.

With the loss, the Pirates remain on pace for 103 loses. A step back from last season when they lost 101 games. There is not much in the way of light at the end of the tunnel for the Pittsburgh Baseball Club.

Bryse Wilson overcomes rocky start to go 5 strong

Things started rocky for Bryse Wilson on Friday night. He allowed a pair of runs in the 2nd inning and it appeared he could be on his way to yet another poor start. Even though he had to dance around base runners, to Wilson’s credit, he still managed to go 5 strong innings.

In 5 innings pitched, Wilson allowed 2 runs on five hits, three walks a home run and five strikeouts.  Throughout his start Wilson was dancing around base runners, but, overall, did a good job of stranding runners.

Pirates race out to a lead, rally back

It did not take the Pittsburgh Pirates long to grab the lead. Oneil Cruz walked to start the game, stole second base and then scored on a Bryan Reynolds single. This single by Reynolds gave the Pirates a 1-0 lead.

Trailing 2-1, the Pirates tied the game in the 2nd inning. This came when Jack Suwinski launched a solo home run, his 17th of the season. Pittsburgh then scored twice in the 3rd inning. These runs came on back-to-back one-out doubles by Cal Mitchell and Kevin Newman. The doubles came after Reynolds reached base on an error and gave the Pirates a 4-2 lead.

Wil Crowe’s recent struggles continue, Manny Bañuelos takes some lumps as well

Wil Crowe relieved Wilson in the 6th inning. Unfortunately, it did not take long for things to go out for Crowe in what proved to be a terrible outing. This continued the recent trend of Crowe struggling.

Crowe issued a walk to Patrick Wisdom to start the inning and this was the beginning of Crowe allowing four of the five batters he faced to reach base. The final batter Crowe faced as Franmil Reyes who drew a bases loaded walk, cutting the Pirate lead to 4-3.

Manny Bañuelos took over for Crowe and struggled some as well. Bañuelos issued a base loaded walk to tie the game before being burnt on an infield hit to make the score 5-4 Cubs. Bañuelos was able to get out the inning with a tremendous play to get an out at the plate on a wild pitch.

New career high in home runs for Bryan Reynolds

In the last week or so Bryan Reynolds has been one of the hottest hitters for the Pittsburgh Pirates. His recent strong stretch continued on Friday night when he set a new career high in home runs.

In the bottom of the 7th inning Reynolds launched a solo home run. This home run tied the game at 5 and gave Reynolds 25 home runs on the season. 25 home runs is a new single season career high for Reynolds.

In addition to his new career high total for home runs, Reynolds is hitting for a .265/.343/.463 slash line to go with a 125 wRC+ this season. These are extremely strong numbers and, yet, it’s considered a down season for Reynolds. Finding a way to extend Reynolds needs to be one of the top, if not the top priority of the Pirates thus offseason.

Cubs regain the lead in the 8th inning

There have been few bright spots out of the bullpen for the Pittsburgh Pirates this season. Right-handed pitcher Yohan Ramirez certainly has not been one of the bright spots. His struggles continued on Friday night.

Ramirez allowed the first two batters of the inning to reach base. After retiring the next two batters, including having a Cub batter thrown out at the plate, Ramirez allowed a go-ahead base hit to Esteban Quiroz. Ramirez allowed a run on two hits and a walk in the 8th inning, allowing the Cubs to take a 6-5 lead.

Ji-Hwan Bae impresses in MLB debut

The long overdue MLB debut of super utility prospect Ji-Hwan Bae finally took place on Friday night. In his debut Bae picked up where he left off at with his strong season at Triple-A as he impressed at the plate.

Bae walked in his first trip to the plate and went on to steal second base. With the Pirates trailing by a run in the 9th inning, Bae singled with one out to bring the winning run to the plate. Unfortunately, Bae would be stranded on base to end the game.

Johan Oviedo (3.69 ERA, 4.06 FIP) is slated to start game two of the seers for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Veteran lefty Wade Miley (3.48 ERA, 4.21 FIP) is set to start for the Cubs. First pitch from PNC Park is scheduled for 6:35 PM ET.