Of the 144 runs the Pirates have scored this year, 36 have now come in the first inning. I’m not sure why they score so many in the first and so few over the rest of the game, but nights like this one where the Pirates run out to an early lead and then never add to it seem to be happening more and more frequently. This creates the unfortunate side effect of me getting my hopes up, only to have them slowly bled away as the opponent erases the lead one run at a time before pulling ahead.
The shame of this game is that it tags Paul Maholm with a loss after a start that was really pretty excellent despite the four runs allowed. He struck out seven in seven innings, got 11 groundballs and just two flyballs, and only allowed four hits and three walks. Put simply, you hate to hang a loss on a guy that pitched the way he did in this game. Particularly in a one-run loss when somehow, two runners ran into outs at third base on back to back plays in the same inning. Which I guess is better than both running into outs at third base on the same play.
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