Difficult series to stomach. I think it portends good things for the Bucs in the future. The won one game definitively, and lost the other two on what amounted to a couple of plays (Game 1: Marte dropped fly OR McCutchen baserunning blunder at 3rd in the 13th - the latter being a play that I changed my mind on since I first saw, he definitely could've taken more space at 3rd and run home on Kozma's throw. Game 3: Marte getting called to bunt instead of swinging away in the 7th, taking an at bat from Cutch who was IBBed OR Questionable strike calls going against the Bucs all day).
The second game was a thing to behold though. Liriano's CG near-shutout (Cardinals scored their only run on a fielder's choice in the 9th) was fantastic. Efficient, too. The Cardinals struggle to hit anything hard all night even though Franky was pounding the zone (painting is probably a more accurate term, he was pitching quality strikes).
Nice little offensive showing in that game too, nice to see Pedro and Jones pick things up with homers, if only for a night. Jones has been struggling for the better part of the season, and Pedro has hit a very rough patch recently. It's not the dearth of HRs that worries me, it's the complete lack of contact. His strikeout rate is through the roof, even for him, and it seems like forever since I've seen him go to left field. I think he'll work things out, but it does worry me.
As mentioned above the Pirates had numerous opportunities to take Game 3 but nothing really went their way. Another good showing from the pen, especially Tony Watson who managed 3 innings of one hit ball, very helpful in a game where A.J. couldn't make it out of the fifth.
This series exhausted me, and definitely exhausted the Pirate players. Alas, no time to rest. The Bucs immediate fly back to host the Diamondbacks for 3 games and then go on their last west coast swing of the year (at San Diego then at San Fran).
No game is a must win at this point, but it would portend very well for the future if the Pirates can pick themselves up and win 2 of 3 at home against a medium-to-good team in the Diamondbacks.
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