It isn’t getting any better. And it won’t get better, at least in the short term. In the midst of the injury to Chris Jakubauskas and the continued ineffectiveness of Daniel McCutchen, the Pirates made a series of moves designed to bolster the bullpen. With Charlie Morton going today, the bullpen desperately needed some rest. As Mick Jagger and Keith Richards once wrote, “You can’t always get what you want.”
The Pirates piled a bunch of hits in the early innings against Brett Myers, but only scored once. They had two runners thrown out on the bases and left the sacks juiced in the second.
After a 1-2-3 first, Morton surrendered a leadoff homer to Lance Berkman in the second. Pedro Feliz singled, stole second and was doubled home J.R. Towles, effectively erasing an early lead and ending the game at the same time. Feliz capped a three run third with a two run single, pushing it out to 5-1 and ending Morton’s day (3 IP, 5 ER, 5 hits).
Brian Bass made his Pirates debut in the fourth. He gave up three runs as part of a little league homer from Carlos Lee (he triple with two men on and scored on the same play on an error from Bobby Crosby).
Brett Myers went six innings and gave up 11 singles and no other hits. He whiffed six in picking up the win.
The Good
The offense had 14 hits. Only one went for extra bases.
Andy LaRoche had four hits.
The Bad
The losing.
The pitching.
Ryan Doumit allowed six successful stolen base attempts without catching anyone.
The Rest
LaRoche had his second four plus hit game. Last one was 9-29-09 when he had five hits against LA.
The 14 hits mark the high water point for a single game in 2010.
Last time the Bucs collected 13 singles was 7-24-09 against the Snakes.
Myers came into the game with a sub 3.00 ERA against the Pirates but only a 3-4 career mark.
Michael Bourn stole three bases, scored twice, walked twice and had an assist. This was his second career three steal game.
