CHRISTOPHER PANSINO – OVATHLETICS.COM
The Pittsburgh Pirates have not been known for producing much offense this season, ranking last in the majors in hits produced and next to last in runs produced. Tonight the Pirate were on fire in both categories.
The Pirates started off the ball game strong with six runs in the first three innings. In the first Jose Tabata hit a solo homer, his 4th of the season, to give the Pirates the brief 1-0 lead.
Then in the second inning Brewers staring pitcher Chris Capuano had a bad inning eventually walking in a run and allowing one more to score on a Tabata RBI single.
The third inning brought three more runs on a homer by Chris Snyder. Snyder’s fourteenth homer this season improved the Pirate lead to 6-3.
The Pirates would extend this lead to 7-3 on a Neil Walker homer in the seventh inning.
Pirate’s starter Zack Duke did his part to help the Pirates move towards a win. Duke allowed four runs in 5 and 1/3 innings. Duke did allow a home runs in both the third and sixth inning accounting for two of the four earned runs he allowed. But despite not pitching a perfect game, Duke was on track for the win when he exited in the sixth inning.
But the Brewers battled back with some offense of their own. They scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh to tie the ball game at 7-7. A two run homer by Prince Fielder would close the gap, but it was a two out error by Pedro Alvarez that ultimately tied the game.
The error occurred on a bad bounce that shot straight up out of his glove. The poor fielded ball allowed Lorenzo Cain to score from third.
The two teams remained stalemated until the bottom of the eleventh inning when Lorenzo Cain of the Brewers ended the game with a walk off hit scoring Ryan Braun. An error earlier in the inning by Neil Walker cost the Pirates a double play ball that ultimately leads to the loss.
The Pirates have drop their 12th straight road game and are now 14 losses shy of 100 on the season. They will look to avoid the sweep and break the losing streak Sunday afternoon.
