Pirates drop series finale against Reds 7-3

This early in the season, luck swings like a weathervane in a hurricane. The guy who hasn’t been hitting, hits, and vice-versa. The automatic out machine on the mound gets shelled; the guy who’s been handing out hits left and right locks up bats.

Such was the case with this Pirates/Reds series. The Reds have been awful, only having won three games. The Pirates, while not setting the world on fire, expected to easily roll over them in the hitter-friendly Great American Ball Park.

Instead, they dropped three out of four, including this afternoon’s 7-3 loss.

In the second inning, Reds starter Tyler Mahle walked Yoshi Tsutsugo, who was on base when Michael Perez, called up from Indy after Roberto Perez’s injury, launched a cannonball into the right center seats for a 2-0 Bucs lead. So far, so good.

Zach Thompson, who was battling illness, turned in five decent innings. Derek Shelton took him out (over many of the BD Commentariat’s protests) in favor of Dillon Peters, who’s been rock-solid. Brandon Drury, who was quite good this series, singled. Mike Moustakas walked. So did Tyler Stephenson.

But this is Dillon Peters. No need to worry, right?

Wrong. He walked Tommy Pham to erase the shutout and end his day. In came Heath Hembree. Up came—hey, Colin Moran, we know this guy! Surely he can’t—

Yep, Redbeard served up a grand slam to put the Reds ahead 5-2. TRAITOR.

Bryan Reynolds, whose bat seems to be a little livelier these days, also went yard in the eighth:

Alas, that was it for Pirates offense. Redbeard rubbed it in with another dinger, this one bringing in Kyle Farmer, whom Chase De Jong had plunked. Sigh.

The Pirate Ship’s weathervane may not have spun in the desired direction in this series, but if you’re going to have outings like these, now’s the time to have them.