Guess what happened again . . . (17-42)

The Pirates lost again. James McDonald's final line is real bad. 6 and 1/3 6 runs and 7 strikouts, but the line is bad because the manager is bad. McDonald dominated through 5. He was killing. He gave up a run in the sixth and a close ground ball double play kept the Pirates on top (2-1 at that time). So, now we have seen people start to hit McDonald, he also walked a guy. Pitch count is not super high, but about 80 (don't know for sure). I would think with Meek and Hanrahan rested from the day off you think you can get one inning out of the rest of the pen and try to win the opener on the road. Not, JR. He puts McDonald back out. Lead off hitter in the 7th walks. Followed by a strike out. Next batter reaches. Now the tying run is in scoring position, why not go get him? Well, JR does not and a triple gives the Brewwers the lead: 3-2. Okay, so now we get him, now that he can get the loss. Wait, JR leaves him out there some more. It takes at least another two hits before JR gives a clearly out of gas McDonald the hook. Now the game is out of reach, and the pen gives up everyone on base and then some to make sure the game can not be won. Just awful coaching. Awful.

Still, some positives. Tabata continues to be awesome. McDonald did strike out 7 and was unhittable for 5. Oh yeah, Chris Synder hit another homer. A good sign to have a little extra pop in the line up.