Sloppy Virtual Pirates lose third straight


I will be serving as general manager/manage of the Pirates in a 2020 season simulation along with 29 others using Out Of The Park Baseball. Feel free to check here for daily updates. I realize baseball is a lot less important than what is going on in the world today but perhaps it can provide a diversion for a few moments.

PITTBURGH – The Virtual Pirates played their worst game of the young virtual season Thursday.


The Pirates made four errors and grounded into three doubles play as thy were routed 8-1 by the Chicago Cubs at PNC Park. The Virtual Buccos lost their third straight game and three of four in the series to fall to 5-8.

Catcher Elias Diaz, first baseman Josh Bell, second baseman Adam Frazier and left fielder Bryan Reynolds all committed fielding miscues.

The shoddy fielding helped the Cubs break the game open in the late innings. They scored two runs in the seventh inning and three unearned runs in the eighth to stretch a 2-1 lead to 6-1.

Mitch Keller (1-1) pitched well in defeat, allowing two runs and two hits in 5 1/3 innings. The rookie had seven strikeouts and two walks while throwing 102 pitches.

Keller surrendered a solo home to Mount Lebanon’s Ian Happ in the fifth inning that opened the scoring.

Bell accounted for the Pirates’ lone run in the sixth inning when he connected for his team-high fifth homer off Jose Quintana (2-1) that cut the Cubs’ lead to 2-1.

Diaz, Bell and Erik Gonzalez had two hits apiece.

Javier Baez gave the Cubs breathing room with a two-run single off Blake Cederlind in the seventh inning to make it 4-1. Cederlind was making his major league debut.

Steven Sousa Jr.’s two-run single off Blake Weiman in the eighth pushed the Cubs’ lead to 7-1.

Quintana gave up one run and seven hits in seven innings.

Bench coach Craig Wilson could only sit in the dugout helplessly as the game took three hours, 46 minutes.

However, the legendary Pirates slugger again proved to be a boon to attendance. There were 26,847 tickets sold for a game played on a clear afternoon with a game-time temperature of 53 degrees and the wind blowing out to center field at 10 mph.

The Pirates begin a six-game road trip Friday night with the opener of a three-game series against the Baltimore Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.

Joe Musgrove (0-2, 7.45) will start for the Pirates against Alex Cobb (0-0, 0.00). Musgrove will be returning from a six-game suspension for his part in a benches-clearing incident with the Cincinnati Reds last Thursday.

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