A bullpen collapse and a continued failure to hit turned a game that was scoreless after 4 innings into an embarrassing route to spoil Bryce Eldridge's first MLB home run. Key Lines:
Bryce Eldridge CH/1B- 1 for 4, HR(1), R, RBI. BA= .154. Eldridge's first MLB home run came on an inside fastball which is often Kryptonite for tall hitters. He pulled his arms in close, spun on it and sent it over the RF wall. I don't think it was technically a splash hit because it looked like it bounced into the water but it was an impressive shot and an encouraging sign for his future.
Landen Roupp RHP- 4 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 3 BB, 8 K's. ERA= 3.09. Roupp pitched scoreless ball for 4 innings but ran up his pitch count in the process. Joey Bart led off the 5'th with an infield hit after winning a pitch challenge and that was it for Roupp after 94 pitches. What ensued was nothing short of a humiliation for the entire organization. With a couple of lefthanded batters coming up, Tony Vitello went with Ryan Borucki LHP who gave up a ground ball single to Oneil Cruz and a sac fly to Brandon Lowe. Switch-hitter, Bryan Reynolds then singled through the left side to drive in Cruz.
Ryan Walker RHP got out of the inning on a CS by Eric Haase C, but Walker came back out for the 6'th inning. After getting the leadoff batter on a K, he went Walk, Wild Pitch, RBI single, Single(Joey Bart again). Walker was lifted for Matt Gage LHP who gave up a single to.....Oneil Cruz, but then got out of the inning on a K and GO. JT Brubaker came in to start the 7'th inning which ended with the Pirates holding a 10-1 lead.
Look, I get Tony Vitello has to work with the roster he is given and he can't run his top 3 relievers out there in the 5'th inning so this is on Buster. Why is Borucki still on the team? And Ryan Walker needs to have the same questions asked about him.
Christian Koss RHP- 1 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 0 BB, 0 K. ERA= 13.50. Poor Christian Koss was called upon to throw slow-pitch softballs up there in the 9'th amid all but catcalls from Kruk and Kuip. He was helped out by a GIDP to keep the score from ballooning to something in the high teens. To top all that off, Koss replaced Rafael Devers in the line up with Eldridge moving from DH to 1B(I didn't know that was allowed), so Koss batted in the bottom of the 9'th and got beaned on the helmet flap. Was that a purpose pitch? Kruk and Kuip seemed to think it might have been. Kuip's immediate reaction was "well, that makes tomorrow's game interesting."
Tyler Mahle RHP tries to salvage a series win this afternoon facing Bubba Chandler RHP, a top prospect who has struggled in his early MLB career and we know what that means for the Giants. His FB averages 98.7 MPH per Fangraphs.
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