In our daily Wake-Up Call, we get you ready for the day with a complete look at all things Pittsburgh Pirates.
One of the things that make baseball incredible is the variety of ways games can play out. The Pittsburgh Pirates beat up on the Chicago White Sox by a score of 7-0 on Tuesday. Yesterday, the game was a battle from start to finish. The Pirates and White Sox were tied for most of the game until Josh Bell stepped up to the plate in the seventh inning:
[protected-iframe id=”718618d6731502a8076717774ec9517d-142507471-137570972″ info=”https://streamable.com/m/2050602183″ width=”560″ height=”315″ frameborder=”0″]The Pirates took a 3-2 lead and the bullpen did its job to seal the win.
I’ve said numerous times, the White Sox are in the middle of a fairly aggressive rebuild. Right now they are not an overly talented ball club. However, even the bad teams play a lot of close games. When the Pirates were at their worst, it wasn’t the blowout losses that really frustrated you, it was games exactly like yesterday. The White Sox certainly had chances to win the game but failed at nearly every turn. These are the games that drive fans crazy. The blowouts are easy to get over because you never had a chance but games where you were so close to victory stick with you for awhile.
The White Sox certainly lost yesterday but the Pirates deserved credit for the win as well. Jameson Taillon did not have his best stuff but labored through six innings and only allowed two runs. He probably won’t be happy with the results but he kept the team in the game until the offense finally scratched across the go-ahead run.
The Pirates are still trying to convince a large chunk of the fanbase that they are for real and winning in a variety of ways is a great way to do that. This team can win a slugfest 7-0 but they can also scratch and claw their way to a 3-2 victory. Over the course of 162 games, you will play more close games than blowouts, so it benefits this team to get used to winning tough games. We are only in May, so the Pirates still have a lot of work to do to convince people they are legit but honestly, I don’t think this team cares. They just play the games and right now, they are winning a lot of them.
Up Next
The Pirates begin a four-game series tonight with the San Diego Padres. The Padres are currently 17-27, good for fourth place in the NL West. The Pirates have a really good opportunity to stack some wins against a struggling ball club. The Pirates have thrived on the bad teams, so hopefully, they continue to beat the teams they are supposed to beat. The pitching matchups are as follows:
Game One: Chad Kuhl (4-2, 4.17ERA) vs. Eric Lauer (1-2, 8.27ERA)
Game Two: Ivan Nova (2-3, 5.01ERA) vs. Tyson Ross (2-3, 3.40ERA)
Game Three: TBD vs. Clayton Richard (2-5, 5.20ERA)
Game Four: Trevor Williams (5-2, 2.72ERA) vs. TBD
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