The Pirates lost to San Francisco, 4-1, to finish with a split of their four-game series at PNC Park. They got a solid start from Mitch Keller, but the offense couldn’t offense and they ran themselves out of one scoring chance.
Keller got off to an ominous start, walking the first batter he faced, but in the end it was one of only two walks. That runner eventually scored on a force out.
The Pirates’ hitters did what they do. They had eight hits, all singles. They went 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position, and the one hit didn’t even drive in a run.
Giants’ starter Alex Wood went six. The Pirates had two chances against him. In the fourth, Jacob Stallings, Will Craig and Erik Gonzalez led off with singles to load the bases. But a Kai’ai Tom sacrifice fly was all they could get, tying the score, 1-1.
The Bucs had a chance to take the lead in the fifth. Singles by Adam Frazier and Bryan Reynolds put runners at the corners with one out. Then they tried a ploy that looked like somebody read The Delayed Double Steal for Dummies but didn’t understand it. Reynolds broke for second and stopped. The Giants ran him back to first and then caught Frazier straying off third.
And that was it for the offense. Three Giants’ relievers threw a hitless inning each. Meanwhile, Keller left after the first two batters in the sixth reached base. Clay Holmes came in to get the next three hitters, but in the process wild-pitched the run in. Holmes threw two innings and Duane Underwood, Jr., one, but David Bednar gave up a two-run home run to Mike Yastrzemski in the ninth.
Jacob Stallings left the game after taking a Buster Posey foul ball off the knee. Michael Perez got one at-bat, popping out to leave his average at an even .100. If Stallings misses any time the Pirates will be down to two major league hitters.
