LA comes straight after Cumpton in 12-2 Pirates loss

12-2! 12-2. 12-2 games are weird. Here's an exercise: Via Fangraphs, here's a list of the sub-replacement-level players the Pirates used in this game.

Jose Tabata
Jordy Mercer
Travis Snider
Jeanmar Gomez
Bryan Morris
Jared Hughes

There's also Brandon Cumpton, who's still above replacement level after allowing 11 runs tonight (since fWAR is calculated using FIP). Only 10 were earned, so that's a plus. We can quibble about how Jared Hughes is replacement level, or how Chris Stewart and Clint Barmes (who also played) aren't, but the point is that now this terrible game is over, and the Pirates can use better players tomorrow and put this behind them.

In fairness to Cumpton, his start was bad, but it might not have gone this badly. He walked two batters in the first inning, but both runs the Dodgers scored that inning came on ground-ball singles. In the third, the Dodgers scored four runs, thanks largely to an error by Starling Marte (that would have been ruled an out had the Pirates not already used their challenge -- he dropped the ball only after he hit the wall) and then a bunch more ground balls. It wasn't until the fourth inning (five runs) that the Dodgers started hitting lots of line drives. It was a poor start for Cumpton, but he generated a lot of ground balls, which is what he's supposed to do. Believe it or not, though, his ERA now is 6.85.

Anyway, it got pretty silly after that, as you'd expect. Gomez and Morris both batted, which tells you most of what you need to know. Oh, and Morris allowed a home run on the first pitch he threw.