Pirates Survive Perfection, Drop The Finale
(AP Photos / Bruce Kluckholn)
To say lightly, The Pittsburgh Pirates have not lived up to the hype since the season's first month. After a 20-8 start, they dropped 12 of their next 14 games, and haven’t recovered. Coming into Sunday, August 20th, they were 55-68 and nearly perfected against Sonny Gray the previous night, going into the sixth without a baserunner, but after an infield hit and error, they squeezed out seven runs to pull out a win against the Minnesota Twins. However, history is a fickle creature, toying with the fourth-place Pirates in a Sunday matinee with Journeyman Dallas Keuchel on the bump for the Twins.
The former cy-young winner has fallen from his famed grace in Houston, going 2-9 in 2022 to the tune of a 9.20 ERA. He remained unsigned through the first two and a half months of the season, before the Twins signed him on a minor league deal, later to be called up in August. In his first start, he went five innings and gave up one run on eight hits. He was roughed up for six runs in his second start against the Philadelphia Phillies, but it was his next start against the Pirates that gained traction in the baseball world. The former ace faced the minimum through six innings of work.
The lefty had not reached a three-ball count until the sixth, and even then, got the outs he needed as his Twins teammates could only manage two runs in those six innings. However, with one out in the seventh, Bryan Reynolds hit a hard double off the right field wall, to break up the Perfect Game. He was taken out to a crowd of cheers and watched on as his replacement Griffin Jax struck out Andrew McCutchen and Ke’Bryan Hayes to keep the Pirates off the board.
Unlike the previous night, The Pirates were unable to rally and fell to the Twins by the score of 2-0, putting their record at 55-69. The Twins meanwhile still hold onto a slim lead for the AL Central crown at 65-60.
Keuchel’s last bid for a no-hitter happened in 2018 versus the Los Angeles Angels, going 6 2/3rds before Justin Upton got a base hit.
The Pittsburgh Pirates move back home to PNC Park to face the St. Louis Cardinals, while the Twins take a night off.
