Virtual Pirates one-hit Reds


 I will be serving as general manager/manager of the Pirates in a 2020 season simulation along with 29 others using Out Of The Park Baseball. Feel free to check here for regular 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.

CINCINNATI – You can’t a game when you don’t give up any runs and that’s exactly what the Virtual Pirates did Friday night.

Rookie JT Brubaker and two relievers combined on a one-hit shutout and the Virtual Buccos rolled to an 8-0 victory over the Virtual Cincinnati Reds at Virtual Great American Ball Park.

The Pirates (70-53) had lost five of their previous eight games and saw their 5 1/2-game lead in the National League Central over the Virtual Milwaukee Brewers cut to one game. The lead is now two games following Friday night’s win.

Brubaker (2-1) went 5 2/3 innings and allowed the only hit, a leadoff double to Nick Senzel in the third inning, before leaving the game when he felt a twinge in his arm. He struck out six, walked one and threw 76 pitches.

Brubaker will undergo further evaluation Saturday.

Kyle Crick got the final out of the sixth and Clay Holmes pitched the last three innings for his first save.

Adam Frazier opened the scoring with a solo home run in the second inning off Trevor Bauer (6-11). Brubaker singled in the game’s second run in the fifth and the Pirates broke it open with a six-runs seventh that included an RBI triple by Luke Maile.

Frazier had two hits and two RBIs while Marcus Semien and Travis Swaggerty added two hits each.

The big win came after a day of spelunking as bench coach Craig Wilson organized a team trip to an area cave. The Pirates got to the ballpark just an hour before game time and did no pre-game drills other than some brief stretching before taking the field.

“Sometimes, you’ve just got to shut your brain off from baseball for a few hours and I think it helped the guys a lot,” Wilson said.

Wilson then provided a capper to a great day by treating the team to a rib dinner from the Montgomery Inn.

Game time temperature was 82 degrees with the wind blowing out to right field at 8 mph. Time of game was three and 26 minutes and attendance was 27,078.

The third game of the four-game series is set for Saturday night with Sean Manaea (12-7, 3.64) pitching against Sonny Gray (9-8, 4.79).

 


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Hall of Fame voting becoming more chore than honor

Bob Nutting and PirateFest

Playing the Pirates' 2020 season anyway