CHRISTOPHER PANSINO – OVATHLETICS.COM
The Pirates continued their losing streak yesterday, as they extended it to five games. Even with a revamped lineup and Paul Maholm on the mound the Pirates still lost 3-2 yesterday.
On offense the Pirates scored two runs in the first inning to take a surprisingly commanding lead in the game. A lead off triple by McCutchen started off the ball game on the right foot, but it was Garrett Jones’ two run homer that really gave the Pirates promise for breaking the losing streak. But it was not to be Houston starter Bud Norris had a career night striking out 14 batters between the homer and the eighth inning. That’s nearly half, 14 of 29, of the batters he faced tonight. And while Norris was not shutting down the Pirates in order, he put a damper on any insurance runs.
Maholm’s pitched seven innings and gave up just three runs on nine hits, proving to be the difference in the ballgame. The problem inning for Maholm was the seventh, though it did not appear that way at first. After the first three batters Maholm had two outs with a man on with a man on second. The coaches come out for a visit at that point, probably to notify him he was at 100 pitches or something else irrelevant like he left his refrigerator door open at home. Whatever the coaches said to him, it obviously affected him as he gave up two runs during the next two at bats, before being pulled.
Which begs the question; if they didn’t want Maholm to pitch why leave him in? At 102 pitches they could have easily left him alone for another batter. See how he fairs and then replace him if he can’t get the final out. But they came out and let him know he reached 100 pitches, giving Maholm a reason to start shutting down, and ruin the chance at a win.
The Pirates will look to end the slide tomorrow afternoon, despite their terrible record on the road.
