I feel bad for Ross Ohlendorf. He’s had a season marred by injury, comebackers hitting him and poor run support. He pitched well again only to watch the bullpen blow a three run 9th inning lead. I wish I could give him a do-over.
Ohlendorf went six plus and allowed two runs. Only one was earned. Colorado never got more than one hit off him in any frame. In the third shoulda been an all-star Carlos Gonzalez tripled and scored on a sac fly from Troy Tulowitzki. Leading off the 7th Brad Hawpe singled and moved to second on a throwing error from Lastings Milledge. Wil Ledezma relieved, followed by Chris Resop, and Hawpe moved up one base on each of two infield ground outs, scoring on a grounder from Miguel Olivo.
In between Rockies tallies, the Pirates took the lead. After failing to score with runners on second and third with one out in the fifth, Pittsburgh broke through against Jorge De La Rosa in the next inning. De La Rosa walked two of the first three men before allowing a three run homer to Chris Snyder. Manny Corpas relieved Snyder and loaded the bases on three singles before getting out of the inning.
Garrett Jones popped a solo homer in the 7th to give the Pirates a 4-2 cushion. The Pirates put another run on the scoreboard in the 8th when Jones struck out with the bases loaded on a wild pitch, allowing Delwyn Young – who singled in a pinch hitting appearance – to score.
New closer Joel Hanrahan was on for the 9th and he gave up the lead. Two singles started the inning and were followed by a game tying three run homer from Ian Stewart. Ugh. In the 10th it got worse – temporarily. Sean Gallagher was in and he gave up a lead off single. Todd Helton hit a homer giving the Rockies a two run lead. Gallagher put two more on before getting out of the inning.
Up come the Bucs. Andrew McCutchen doubled leading off. Huston Street retired the next two hitters. Garrett Jones walked. Pedro Alvarez put on his cape and hit a three run, game winning, walk off, two out homer. Whew.
Ohlendorf went six plus. He allowed one earned run on four hits. He struck out six. De La Rosa allowed three runs in 5-1/3 innings. He gave up five hits and walked four. Street was the loser and Gallagher was the winner despite giving up the go ahead runs in the 10th.
The Good
Have to be happy with Ohlendorf’s effort.
Coming back after watching the bullpen scatter six outs among five runs being scored against them.
Alvarez had two singles in addition to his homer.
Jose Tabata and McCutchen each had two hits.
Jones scored three times.
The Bad
The bullpen.
Two errors from the defense
The Rest
Ohlendorf remains 1-1 against Colorado. De La Rosa is 3-2 against Pittsburgh.
Among the 12 outs he recorded when the ball was put in play, Ohlendorf had 10 fly balls and two grounders.
This was the second career three hit game for Alvarez.
This was the second time in August the Pirates collected three homers in a game. Combined between May, June and July the team only did that one time.
Snyder’s homer was his first as a Bucco.
