Diary of a long suffering Pirates fan: Games 23-26. How do we keep losing to these guys?

Of course, this is the Pirates we’re talking about.  And when the Pirates lose a game that one thinks that they should win, there are usually Pirates-type things that lead to the loss.  And so it was in that fateful third inning.  Milwaukee scored three runs on one stinking single. The rest of the baserunners reached via 2 walks 2 hit batsmen and 1 error.  And for good measure, there were the obligatory couple of pitches called balls that instant replay showed were strikes.  Bad pitching, bad fielding, bad umpiring, and bad luck for sure. 

But a good team should be able to overcome these things.  And it sure felt like the Pirates were going to.  There were some terrific defensive plays made by the Pirates that kept Milwaukee’s run total to three.  The Pirate’s bullpen pitched well after that third inning, albeit bailed out by some terrific glove work and throws by Jared Triolo.  But when the game ended and fans looked at the scoreboard, it was Bryce Wilson and the Milwaukee Brewers that had won the game.  The Milwaukee bullpen had managed to make the three gift runs the Pirates gave them in the 3rd stand-up.

On Getaway day the following afternoon, there were more of those Pirates type things that turned victory into defeat.  There was the aforementioned Tellez play.  There were two fly/lined balls that didn’t stick in the gloves of Pirates outfielders.  Each would have been diving catches, but it was poor routes to the batted balls that led to the outfielders needing Pilates-type to dive in the first place.  The first of those hits was a liner to Jack Suwinski. 

Suwinski briefly had the ball in his glove, but the ball popped out when Suwinski hit the ground. The Suwinksi non-catch was judged to have had a 65 percent catch probability; The second non-caught hit was dropped by Bryan Reynolds.  The Reynolds noncatch was judged to have had a 90 percent catch probability.  But, alas, they were not caught and instead they were run-producing hits.