The bright side of this game was that I got to sit behind home plate and chat baseball with my dad so the game recap for the Pirates’ 2-1 loss is filled with tidbits of that conversation. The game moved along pretty quick until the switches in the 7th inning onward. Erik Bedard let up one run early to Josh Willingham who would haunt the Pirates all night.

Bedard would move on from this slight hiccup to last six innings of quality ball but once again, he looked like he was struggling for control. Bedard has some quality pitches like his curve but keeping it in the strike zone for strike three was an issue. He finished by my count just under 100 pitches.

Francisco Liriano was even better, pitching extremely effectively and shutting down the Bucs for 6 innings until the seventh where the game had it’s turning point. Liriano loaded the bases by walking Michael McHenry which led to Rod Barajas’ shot at immortality (kinda). Barajas smoked a liner into center which Denard Span dove for. He came up with the ball and Pedro, who was on third, tagged up. Jose Tabata would ground out to end the threat.

When Jason Grilli came up in the 8th, I remarked to my dad that a Cutch homer would bring up Hanrahan and end the game with a nice bow. I had no idea that Josh Willingham decided to take my advice and Grilli’s mistake cost the Pirates the game.

Some random tidbits from the game: left handed starters are the weakness of the Pirates lineup more than anything else. The team is loaded with left handed hitters (Alvarez, Jones, throw Walker in) and McCutchen is the only real threat. This team could really use a big right handed bat because McGehee isn’t a cleanup guy.

Pedro Alvarez is a smart ball player, he just can’t hit. If he would learn how to hit pitching he’d be a great all around player. He never left third on Barajas’ shot and played third very well. On the other side I don’t think Tabata will be a good player even with a bat. He lacks hustle and I’d much rather see an outfield of Harrison, McCutchen and Jones until Marte is ready for the show.

J-Mac goes for the Bucs tomorrow, hopefully he can win the rubber match for the Pirates. Let’s Go Bucs.