The first three innings of the Pittsburgh Pirates fourth game against the Arizona Diamondbacks were rather quiet. Things got wacky in the fourth inning.
In the fourth Ke’Bryan Hayes reached on a slow roller to third base and then Oneil Cruz drew five-pitch walk. With one out, Hayes and Cruz would succeed at a double steal putting men on 2nd and 3rd for Tucupita Marcano. Marcano hit a one-hopper to a drawn in Christian Walker, who took a second too long throwing home allowing Hayes to slide in safely. Greg Allen was up next and hit a line drive single to center field scoring Oneil Cruz easily, but by way of a defensive gaffe and some alert base-running by Marcano the Pirates stole another run on the play for a 3-0 lead.
Armed with a three-run lead and having made quick work of the Diamondbacks through three innings, JT Brubaker’s control would begin slipping. Brubaker hung an 0-2 slider that leadoff hitter Emmanuel Rivera promptly deposited into left-center for a homerun. After a four-pitch walk he was able to get Christian Walker to hit a grounder right at Josh VanMeter, but VanMeter wasn’t able to field it cleanly leading to the Pirates only getting one out on the play and allowing the baserunner to reach second base. This would prove costly as Brubaker would strikeout Daulton Varsho before Carson Kelly managed to hit a single to center field scoring the runner from second base and closing the gap to 3-2.
The teams would then trade zeroes over the next couple innings until the bottom of the seventh.
In his second inning of work, Chase De Jong ran into some trouble. The first two batters reached by way of singles and then after going 0-2 on Geraldo Perdomo who failed to get two bunts down, De Jong would hit him on a 2-2 pitch loading the bases. Kevin Newman — who entered by way of pinch-hitting for Josh VanMeter in top of 7th — couldn’t handle a hard grounder and managed to get only one out at first with the tying run crossing the plate. Yerry De Los Santos entered the game with one out for De Jong and E-Menace Rivera (who hit the HR off JT Brubaker earlier) pulled an 0-2 pitch inside the 3B line for a 2-run double. Yerry would give up four runs without registering an out before being relieved by Duane Underwood Jr.
The Diamondback scored seven runs in total in the 7th to take a 9-3 lead. That would be all they’d need as the Pirates’ offense would go down quietly over the next two innings.
Pirates @ Giants
Time: 10:15 PM EST
Pirates Starter: Bryse Wilson (2-6, 5.86)
Giants Starter: Carlos Rodon (10-6, 2.95)
Wilson Notes: Bryse Wilson has a 4.12 ERA over four starts since his most recent recall on July 17th. He’s only struck out 12 batters in the last 19.2 IP but that’s come with only issuing two walks. That’s good for a 2.5% walk rate that’s well below his career average of 7.9% (per Fangraphs). While Wilson appears to be trending in the right direction his metrics still paint a gloomy picture. A quick look at his Baseball Savant page shows a lot of blue that ranks near the bottom of the league.
LINEUPS:
Pirates
West Coast baseball.#LetsGoBucs pic.twitter.com/Ef72nYvYky
— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) August 12, 2022
Giants
1. Joc Pederson (L) LF
2. Brandon Belt (L) 1B
3. Wilmer Flores (R) 3B
4. Mike Yastrzemski (L) CF
5. Brandon Crawford (L) SS
6. Thairo Estrada (R) 2B
7. LaMonte Wade Jr. (L) DH
8. Luis Gonzalez (L) RF
9. Austin Wynns (R) C
