The Pittsburgh Pirates remain the Cinderella story of the MLB after taking two out of three from the Los Angeles Dodgers, and remain atop the standings of the NL Central.
Lately the Pirates have been red hot and look like a team to watch out for later in the season. This series had a ton of highs and maybe just one low. The Buccos faithful got to see their team sign its first $100 million dollar player in franchise history, and a 33-year-old journeyman make his MLB debut.
Coming into this series the Pirates were on a league-leading seven-game winning streak and had announced the eighth-year contract extension given to outfielder Bryan Reynolds. The Pirates jumped out to a 7-2 lead in the fourth inning and Buccos faithful thought a win was in the bag. Yet after a few shaky innings by Pittsburgh relievers and a blown save opportunity, trailed 8-7 going into the ninth. Former Pirate Shelby Miller came in and slammed the door getting Connor Joe looking to end the game.
Fast forward to the middle game of this series and Buccos’ starter Roansy Contreras had his best stuff working. He held the Dodgers hitless through five innings and exited the game after the sixth and only surrendered two hits.
Contreras though was outshined by the story of the night which ended up being 33-year-old Drew Maggi who spent 13 seasons in the minor leagues and played over 1,100 career games before getting his opportunity to make his MLB debut. Well, Wednesday night he finally got to say he was a big leaguer and pinch hit for Andrew McCutchen in the bottom of the eighth. With the crowd behind him, and what seemed like the entire city of Pittsburgh simultaneously he fought back his emotions and stepped into the batter’s box at PNC Park.
While Maggi’s first at-bat ended in his first career strikeout the ovation, the crowd chanting his name, and the overall atmosphere will always be a day he remembers.
In the rubber match of this series, the Pirates drew a tough matchup against Julio Urias who had the lowest ERA in the NL last season. The Dodgers pulled an equally tough task going against Buc’s ace Mitch Keller who to this point had strung together four straight quality starts. The Buccos seemed unphased going up against the normally dominant Urias as they tagged him for three runs in the first and another three in the sixth.
Joe and Rodolfo Castro went back to back against Urias which chased him from the game after 5.2 innings and six earned runs. That was enough for the Pirates bullpen to shut it down. David Bednar got brought in even though it was a non-save situation to get some work in after not pitching since April 23rd which was an appearance against the Cincinnati Reds.
Looking ahead the Pirates head to the nation’s capital to take on the Washington Nationals and then to Tampa to take on the Rays before heading home for a series starting on Cinco De Mayo against the Toronto Blue Jays.