Pirates stumble again in extra innings 3-2

Pirates bats were quiet again, and poor baserunning didn’t help the Bucs today at LoanDepot park as the Miami Marlins came back in extra innings again.

You couldn’t pin this loss on Zach Thompson—he got into a groove early and ended up going into the seventh. However, Marlins starter Buxton Garrett was in a groove of his own.

The Marlins got on the board first with a questionable play at home in the fifth. Billy Hamilton came flying home on a Joey Wendle double. He was at first called out after Jason Delay appeared to have tagged him out on a great play, but upon further review Hamilton, who was not afraid to sacrifice his face to the dirt (he opened up a good-sized cut by his left eye during the slide), was safe.

It didn’t help that Jake Marisnick erred in baserunning a couple of innings later, being on third, then attempting to come home after mistakenly thinking that Kevin Newman had walked. The Pirates didn’t have a lot of baserunners today anyway, so for one in scoring position to misjudge like that wasn’t a good thing.

There was also a lot of talk about a defensive play Oneil Cruz made where he got the ball to first baseman Michael Chavis at over 90 miles an hour. Yes, it looked cool, but it was Chavis’ acrobatic stretch that nabbed the ball and got the runner. I’d like Cruz’s bat to catch up with his throwing ability. Because the Pirates bats are getting cold again.

Maybe the thin air of Denver will wake them up.