Pittsburgh Pirates Takeaways & Throwaways- A Glimmer of Hope

In dramatic fashion off the end of the bat of Sean Rodriguez in the 9th inning, the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Philadelphia Phillies tonight 5-3.

The Pittsburgh Pirates found themselves in familiar territory yet again in Philadelphia, in a close game against a bad team with no offense to speak of. With each game that goes this way, the hope of a post-season berth fades a little more into the distance and talk turns to hope for next year. But there was a ray of hope late in the game tonight, keeping a glowing ember alive one more day.

Takeaways

• The Kang Show – Jung-Ho Kang continues to do positive things after coming off of the DL for a shoulder injury. Even if tonight it was scooting home on a wild pitch, Kang is delivering runs for a team in bad need of them.
• Pitching – First, Ivan Nova in 6 innings had 11 strike-outs. The trade-deadline pick-up continues to be a bright spot in a sky full of dark, ominous clouds for this team. Second, closer Tony Watson delivered exactly what the Pirates needed tonight, a clean 1-2-3 inning and a save.

Throwaways

• The Bats aren’t moving – Andrew McCutchen’s base hit in the 8th was the first for the Pirates since the 3rd inning. That silence buys you a ticket back home come the end of September.
• Frustration bubbling over – Clint Hurdle was ejected in the 6th for arguing umpire interference. The tension is clearly getting to the manager, who must be feeling the hot breath of the entire city down his neck as his team sits several games below .500 this late in the season.

W – Felipe Rivero (1-4)
L – Jeanmar Gomez (3-4)
S – Watson 12

Line of the Night
Sean Rodriguez with a clutch pinch hit 3-run homer in the 9th with the team down by 1 was like a Vitamin D injection for the scurvy-plagued Pirates.

Hop on over to our twitter feed to cast your vote for tonight’s Player Of The Game!

#RaiseIt (Finally!!) The Pirates comeback to beat the Phillies 5-3. Who is your player of the game?

— Jason Rollison (@jrollisonpgh) September 14, 2016

Next Up

The Pirates take on the Phillies in game number three of this four-game series. Steven Brault (0-2) faces the Phillies’ Jake Thompson (1-5) at 7:05 p.m.