Rockies defeat the Pirates 6-2, complete the sweep

Things at least started nicely for the Pirates in this game.

Adam Frazier led things off in the first inning with a triple to right. Ke’Bryan Hayes followed that up with a sacrifice fly to give the Pirates an early 1-0 lead. Byan Reynolds then hit a massive 454-foot solo home run to make the score 2-0. Sadly for them, those were the only runs the Pirates would score. On the day, the Pirates mustered up just five hits. Two came from Frazier. Two came from Reynolds. Reynolds specifically did not record an out as he went 2-2 with two walks. Both players should be All-Stars. The rest of the team on the other hand? Not so much.

As I mentioned in the game thread, the 4-8 hitters in this lineup were flat-out bad. In today’s game, they were terrible going 1-18 with one walk. Ka’ai Tom went 1-3 with a double and walk. The rest did nothing. Cleanup hitter Ben Gamel was 0-4 with three strikeouts.

Chad Kuhl started this game and looked solid over his first three innings. In the fourth, he allowed a solo shot to CJ Cron to cut the lead to 2-1. In the fifth, the wheels fell off. After a Raimel Tapia walk, Garrett Hampson hit a double to tie the game at two. He then advanced to third on a wild pitch. After a Charlie Blackmon free pass, Cron hit a sac fly to give the Rockies a 3-2 lead. That is all they would need. In total Kuhl, went 4.1 innings pitched while allowing three earned runs on five hits. He struck out six and walked three.

After Kuhl’s day was done, Chris Stratton, Sam Howard, and David Bednar each allowed one earned run to give the Rockies a 6-2 cushion. In the ninth, Chasen Shreve tossed a clean five-pitch inning.

This weekend, the Pirates return home to host the Brewers for a four-game series. In tomorrow’s game, Wil Crowe (1-4, 6.50 ERA) will get the start and oppose Corbin Burnes (2-3, 2.53 ERA). Things will not be getting any easier for a Pirates offense that scratched across just two runs in a three-game series at Coors Field. Perhaps some home cooking is what this team needs right now. Nevertheless, go Bucs.