In our daily Wake-Up Call, we get you ready for the day with a complete look at all things Pittsburgh Pirates.
Stop me if you heard this one before.
The Pittsburgh Pirates got a great pitching performance, holding a team to one run, but their offense couldn’t score a run and the Pirates lost 1-0.
Sadly that’s not a joke for Clint Hurdle‘s team as once again the Pirates were on the wrong end of a 1-0 loss Monday night to the visiting Atlanta Braves.
The 1-0 defeat was the Pirates third in five games. In that span, the Pirates pitching staff allowed a total of five runs, one each game. Also in that span the Pirates offense has scored a total of five runs, three coming in one game.
Somehow, despite allowing one run a game, the Bucs lost three of those contests.
Monday was the same old story.
The Bucs bats were silence by 20-year old rookie Bryse Wilson, who was called up prior to the game to make his major league debut.
Wilson was pitching in high school two years ago and has pitched in all four levels this season.
Instead of feasting on a young kid making his MLB debut, Wilson limited the Pirates to just three hits while striking out five in three innings.
The only run of the game came in the first when Nick Markakis drove in Freddie Freeman with an RBI single off Chris Archer.
The Pirates had a couple of chances, but couldn’t plate a run.
They had two on with one out in the fourth but Francisco Cervelli struck out and Colin Moran grounded out to end the inning.
They had runners on first and second in the fifth as well with one out but Corey Dickerson bounced into an inning-ending double play.
Then in the seventh, Adeiny Hechavarria, who had two of the Pirates hits, was on second with two outs and tried to score on a single by Dickerson but was gunned out at the plate on a great throw by Ender Inciarte.
The loss drops the Pirates back to the .500 mark and has them six games out of the second wild card spot.
Archer hurt
The Pirates were looking to Archer to finally deliver a big start and he didn’t pitch that bad, allowing one run and five hits with three strikeouts and one walk.
He was removed from the game with left leg discomfort after injuring himself while batting in the third.
The injury isn’t believed to be serious.
Archer is 1-1 with a 4.91 ERA in four starts for the Pirates.
Marte Benched
After not hustling on more than one occasion on Sunday against the Cubs, center fielder Starling Marte was benched on Monday.
Marte pinch-hit in the ninth inning and grounded out.
Roster Move
The Pirates made a roster move on Monday, recalling Steven Brault from Triple-A Indianapolis and optioning Buddy Boshers.
Brault replaced Archer and pitched a pair of scoreless innings and drew a walk in the fifth inning.
Up Next
The Pirates and Braves continue their three-game series tonight.
Ivan Nova (7-7, 4.26 ERA) gets the ball for the Bucs.
He has pitched well against Atlanta in the past, winning all three career starts with a 1.69 ERA.
He will be opposed by Atlanta’s Kevin Gausman, who the Pirates were heavily linked to at the deadline as well.
Gausman has performed much better for his new team, going 2-1 with a 2.84 ERA in Atlanta.
Baseball talk on the web
- Daniel Murphy reportedly claimed off waivers
- Andrew McCutchen could be traded by end of week
- Could the Yankees spend $700 million in offseason?
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