Duke and Company Lose Another On The Road, 9-1

CHRISTOPHER PANSINO – OVATHLETICS.COM

The worst road team in the National league struck again yesterday as the Pirates lost another in a blowout 9-1.
A lot had to go wrong yesterday to lose by such a wide margin.

Starting pitching, which has been trouble all season, was humbling. Duke gave up six runs on seven hits, striking out just one batter. Though Duke had a good game going until the fifth inning, allowing just one run, he could not withstand the Cardinal lineup in the inning. Albert Pujols cap the inning by hitting a two run homer to give the Cardnals the 6-1 lead.

The Pirates offense started off strong, but faded in later inning. A lead off triple for Lastings Milledge and an RBI single by Ronny Cedeno got the Pirates on the board first, 1-0. But overall the Pirates offense was lackluster, as they saw no more than five batters in any one inning. And with the lack of a proven power hitter or a few everyday hitters on the team all that can be said about yesterday was that “it is nothing new.”

But what is new and perhaps strange for the Pirates is the shaky bullpen that has cropped up since the trade deadline. The nine batters, three run, sixth inning added insult to injury.
Steven Jackson came in the eighth inning to relieve Sean Gallagher.

Jackson started off his eighth inning by giving up a lead off homerun. He would follow that up with a pair of singles and a pair of walks allowing to more runs to score before the end of the inning. The final run of the game was scored on a five pitch walk, driving in the man from third.

The Pirates return home Monday for a long needed home stand. Their opponent will not be a pushover however. Cincinnati is just a half game behind St. Louis in the central division race.