Pittsburgh Pirates Wake-Up Call: Just call them Han Solo

In our daily Wake-Up Call, we get you ready for the day with a complete look at all things Pittsburgh Pirates

Just call them Han Solo

Last night the Pirates defeated the Reds 5-4 and they did so with four different solo home runs. Andrew McCutchen, David Freese, Jung Ho Kang and Josh Harrison all hit solo shots to tie the game at four and then Jordy Mercer hit a little bloop single that proved to be the game winner. Baseball is a funny game sometimes.

The started out frustratingly enough with the Pirates falling behind early, battling back and then falling behind again before winning the game in the ninth inning. It was the kind of game that feels really good to win, even against a rebuilding Cincinnati Reds team. Not every game is going to be pretty, but a win is a win.

Here is our player of the game poll for last night’s win. It seems we have a tie between Josh Harrison and Jung Ho Kang. If you don’t already, give our Twitter a follow for updates on all of our articles and of course in-game tweeting.

Who is your #Pirates player of the game after #Bucs win 5-4? #Raiseit

— Jason Rollison (@jrollisonpgh) May 12, 2016

Bean Ball

Like seemingly every Reds-Pirates game, it became a battle of hit by pitches with Starling Marte, Jung Ho Kang, Sean Rodriguez, David Freese, Adam Duvall, and Brandon Phillips all got hit. These two teams pretty much always hit each other with pitches so it wasn’t exactly a surprising series of events.

It’s interesting that despite the two teams currently being in opposite directions in regards to contention, things still get very tense when they play each other. Old rivalries die hard, I guess. Doesn’t matter what the records aren, these two teams just don’t get along and as a result, usually someone gets hit by a pitch.

Bullpen shuts the door

The Pirates’ bullpen has been much maligned for most of the season, but last night it looked like old times as they shutdown the Reds and helped seal the victory. Jared Hughes, Tony Watson and Mark Melancon each pitched scoreless innings and only allowed two hits between them. It wasn’t a completely stress free effort as things got a bit interesting in the ninth inning, but it was good to see the bullpen not give up some runs. Especially given it was against the Reds, a team which has been a thorn in the Pirates’ side in recent years.

Baseball news from around the web

Max Scherzer ties an MLB record with a 20 strikeout performance.

Baseball America reports that MLB is investigating the Boston Red Sox over their international signings.

Jayson Stark discusses MLB’s instant replay system and how it could be fixed.

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