Some notes on the Pirates' 4-2 loss to the Twins this afternoon.
-P- Erik Bedard was very effective, pitching three scoreless innings while striking out three and allowing one hit and no walks.
-P- It was a very good game for Casey McGehee, who went 3-for-3 with two doubles and made a couple very nice stops at third. After he left, McGehee told Rob King that he felt at home at third base.
-P- One of those McGehee doubles came with Yamaico Navarro and Rod Barajas on third and second, respectively. Navarro came home and waved his arms, signaling for Barajas to come home as well. With any other player on base, that probably would have made sense, but unfortunately, Barajas makes Ronny Paulino look like Carl Lewis, and Barajas was out by a mile.
-P- Jo-Jo Reyes got hit hard, giving up all four runs over three innings. That included a two-run homer to Danny Valencia. Alex Presley's inexplicable faceplant while he was jogging back to the wall on Valencia's homer was awesome stuff, totally GIF-worthy, if anyone knows how to do that.
-P- Brandon Boggs stayed in the whole game. It's been interesting that Boggs has gotten so much playing time so far. It might not mean anything, but I wonder if he's going to get more consideration for a bench role than any of us have guessed. (It's not yet clear to me why he would, but hey.) If he's in, Nick Evans and Jake Fox are probably out.
-P- In the ninth, Joe Benson robbed Robbie Grossman of a double or a triple near the wall. Grossman got a great ovation as he headed back to the dugout -- Bradenton loves him.
-P- The Pirates had a ton of minor-leaguers in at the end of the game -- Elevys Gonzalez, Drew Maggi, Matt Curry, Quincy Latimore and Evan Chambers. Gonzalez doubled in his only at-bat.
-P- I like Bob Walk, but his strangled explanation late in the game about why he likes the WHIP statistic reminded me of Uncle Nate's excellent comment about the future of the Pirates' post-game radio show. Having a former athlete on the game broadcast is probably a good thing; for the post-game, no.