Categories: 2022 Postgame Recaps

Pirates hit 3 triples, snap Phillies’ 6-game winning streak

Matt Vierling went 2-for-2 with a walk in Sunday’s loss to Pittsburgh. (Photo by Brandon Sloter/Icon Sportswire)

Final Score: Pirates 5, Phillies 0

The Pirates hit three triples and scored five runs against Noah Syndergaard to avoid going winless in the season series against the Phillies. For Philadelphia, it snaps a six-game winning streak and drops them to 72-56. They’ll head out west for a six-game roadtrip that begins Monday night in Phoenix.

Pirates rookie shortstop Oneil Cruz drilled the second pitch of the game to center field past the diving Matt Vierling. The route to the ball wasn’t perfect, but it was hit off the bat at 110 mph. A single from Ke’Bryan Hayes to right field on the next pitch opened the scoring.

Tucupita Marcano and Bryan Reynolds both hit triples into the right field corner and eventually came around to score. While Nick Castellanos is hitting well above .300 over the past month, he continues to be a liability in right field. Hits that are doubles sometimes become triples with Castellanos manning right. When the team isn’t scoring, issues like that in the corner outfield become more glaring.

While the Pirates were seemingly ready to pounce on Syndergaard from the get-go, he was able to limit the damage to just two through five with the help of his catcher J.T. Realmuto, who threw out two base stealers and caught a foul tip to get Reynolds to strike out in the first inning. The right hander also struck out five and recorded 12 swing-and-misses. He was pulled after allowing two runs to score in the sixth. Nick Nelson recorded the final out of the inning and threw 1 1/3 scoreless innings.

Connor Brogdon and Sam Coonrod both pitched a scoreless frame in the eighth and ninth innings respectively. Brogdon’s outing, which featured a first-pitch ground ball out and a strikeout looking, was refreshing considering that he struggled with command in his last three outings.

The Phillies offense however, was not up to face Roansy Contreras and the Pirates bullpen. To Contreras’ credit, he did put together a second-straight solid outing, shutting out the Phillies through five innings and stranding runners in scoring position in both the second and fourth inning.

In both instances, Edmundo Sosa, who was in to play third base with Bohm shifting to first to give Rhys Hoskins an off day, was up with two outs with a chance to score, but he recorded the final out. He struck out in the second and hit a liner to center field in the fourth.

“He kept us off the barrel,” Rob Thomson said. “It’s a good slider. He’s got a good arm. We couldn’t get much going.”

Of the nine Phillies losses in the month of August, five of them have been shutouts.

Twelve of the last 14 outs recorded on Sunday came on the ground. If that doesn’t scream getaway day loss, then I don’t know what else does. As Paul Casella of MLB.com

points out, finishing out a series has been a problem recently for the Phillies.

Shibe Vintage Sports Notes

Syndergaard became the first Phillies pitcher since Aaron Nola on Sept 2, 2017 to give up three triples in an outing. It’s also the first time the Phillies as a team gave up three triples in a game since Sept 2, 2018. For some reason, the last two instances in which the Phillies gave up three triples in a game happened on the same day in subsequent years.
Vierling reached base safely three times in a game for the second time this week.
Realmuto recorded two caught stealings in a game for the first time since May 24.

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