Sometimes, when the Pirates are playing terrible baseball teams like the Nationals, it’s easy to forget that the Pirates are really not a very good team in their own right. It doesn’t take much to be reminded of that, though. Getting two-hit by a club that lost by 19 runs just the day before is a nice quick reminder of that, though. It’s an especially good reminder when the pitcher that throws the shutout at you has a 6.54 ERA after throwing eight shutout innings.
The shame in last night’s loss is wasting another great outing from Zach Duke, who struck out seven in eight innings while holding the White Sox to two runs on six hits and two walks, using just 88 pitches to cruise through those eight innings. I see some rumblings about the umpire in the comments and John Russell was clearly frustrated by this loss, but then again he’s the one that removed his starting third baseman from the lineup for reasons that only he understands.
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