Pirates lose 2 games in a row in extra innings
The Pirates knew what it is like to lose consecutive games. They now know what it is like to lose consecutive extra-inning games.
They just want to find a way to get timely hitting so they can come from behind in games and get a win.
They have played 4 extra-inning games so far and that can be very tiresome for any team. Pittsburgh played a 12 game versus the Cubs and lost it. On Wednesday, they played 15 innings and lost by a bigger margin.
The truth is they have to start winning extra-inning games. The momentum from one extra inning game is taken into the next one. If you lost, then you will probably lose the next extra-inning game.
Just add this one, a 6-4 defeat at the hands of the Cubs at PNC Park, to the list of deflating defeats the Pirates have had only a week into the season.
It had to be heartbreaking by the way it happened. From the first seven innings, people thought the Pirates had no chance of winning. Jason Bay gave up a ninth inning homer, which sent that game into extra innings.
That was likely true for many of the 9,735 fans in the stands who were watching Cubs starter Ryan Dempster post zeros on the scoreboard with seemingly little effort.
The small crowd that was brave enough to even show up at PNC Park had their Pittsburgh Pirates merchandise. But down to their last at-bat in both the ninth and 14th innings, the Pirates rode the momentum of their slumping heart-of-the-order hitters to pump a few extra breaths into the offense.
The Cubs beat the Pirates (not in extra innings) in the third game and swept them.