Pirates dominate, but have to edge out a 12th inning win

The Pirates beat around the D-Backs, but ended up in extra innings clawing for their life. They did get the win thanks to the big guns stepping up as they should. But, they get to .500.

The great news is that the big three bats all played big. McCutchen had multiple hits including the walk-off homer, plus a sac fly for the first RBI of the game. He scored the second run and the third as well. Tabata had a four hit night, scored the first run of the game. Walker had the worst night of the three, but got the clutch base hit in the bottom of the 10th when the Pirates were down 2-1, and things looked bad. So he pulled out an important RBI.

Maholm was also solid. I say solid and not great because he walked 3 guys, but only gave up one hit. Pitch count seemed a little high after 6 when he left with a 1-0 lead. Resop did a good inning. Veras gave up the tying run, but Tony Watson bailed Veras out of the 8th inning. Watson looked good inherited 2 runners and they did not move as he struck out both batters. Moskos was not so good tonight. His slider seemed off. He gave up the run in the 10th after Hanrahan worked a clean 9th. Moskos did get of the inning with only one run, which looked real bad for a minute. Daniel McCutchen pitched the 11th and the 12th and looked bad doing it. He was in trouble both innings. He had to get out of a 1st and 3rd one out jam, and did it. He had people on base the next inning as well. I think Clint was going to stick with him because the bullpen was getting thin.

Bad things did happen. The Pirates racked up 15 hits in 12 innings and only walked away with 3 runs. That is not good. Lots of guys left on base. Chris Snyder got hurt, or at least left the game. That means Dusty Brown is the starter and Matt Diaz the back up catcher. If it is serious then Eric Fryer is probably going to make the majors.

On a side note, the Pirates promoted Kyle McPhearson to AA. Matt Curry was promoted a few weeks ago. This is the beginning of moving up some guys that need to move up. Starling Marte maybe first on that list. Also Sanchez might need to be promoted to AAA soon. Will Taillon get moved up to High A to take McPhearson's starting spot? Someone from West Virginia ought to go up, it is too crowded down there. Crumpton? Waldron? Both would be good candidates. And don't look now, but Robbie Grossman is not fading in June. He is up to .276 and most impressively he went 1 for 2 today with 3 walks. 3 WALKS. If you are familiar with Grossman it is unheard of for him to walk 3 times in one game. No strikeouts is an accomplishment for him, but 3 walks? Wow.

As for day 3 of the draft, it is mostly people who will not sign or are organizational depth. Just so you know who you will see in State College soon, here are the seniors drafted.
31. Derek Trent - C - lefty that can play outfield as well. Only real person to watch taken today.
33. Christ Lashmet - 3B - from Northwestern

Those are the guys that are shoe-ins because they are seniors. There are several prep players, I can't imagine many of them signing. There are one or two other guys that were from a junior college or long shot signs from college. You will see a few of them like maybe Jonathan Schwind the 41st round pick. He is a junior from Marist, and he might go to the Pirates. We will see.