Pirates swept by Blue Jays with 4-3 defeat

The Pittsburgh Pirates got swept by the Toronto Blue Jays on Sunday, falling 4-3 in the final match of the series.

The Bucs fell behind early in a 3-0 hole, with JT Brubaker giving up single runs in the second, third, and fourth innings. Despite this, he wasn’t awful, finishing with a line of five and a third innings pitched, giving up three runs, two of them earned, on five hits to go along with two walks and five strikeouts.

The Bucs would battle back to tie it on a two-run double by Josh VanMeter in the fourth and then a solo shot by Oneil Cruz, his 12th dinger of the year, in the fifth inning to leave Brubaker with the no decision.

But the Jays would take back the lead in the seventh when Teoscer Hernandez hit an RBI single off of Duane Underwood Jr., who was pretty bad in this series. He finished with one inning pitched, giving up the single run off of four hits to take the loss and fall to 1-5 on the season.

The Bucs would threaten in the ninth after Jack Suwinski got things started with a no-out single. Cal Mitchell would then single, sending Suwinski to third. Greg Allen came in to pinch run for Mitchell and then stole second base, leaving runners at second and third with nobody out.

But Josh VanMeter, Tucapita Marcano, and Kevin Newman would all strike out swinging to end the threat, end the inning, and solidify the sweep for Toronto.

The Bucs are now 49-84, and as they stumble and bumble down the stretch, you have to wonder if 60 wins is even a possibility.

They’ll be back in action this afternoon with an early game kicking off a series against the New York Mets.