Bryse Wilson Goes Five, Offense Does Enough, Pirates Win 6-3

Combined with a good effort from Bryse Wilson and some timely hitting, the Pirates took care of the Marlins, 6-3 on Saturday night at PNC Park. With the win, the Buccos take the series and are now 6-2-1 in their last nine series.

Wilson delivered the Pirates’ second straight game with strong five innings from a starter and there were several occasions we saw his sinker dip and dive on batters’ bats. Wilson slipped on one occasion, allowing a two-run home in the 5th inning to Nick Fortes–in only his 2nd MLB at-bat.

The bullpen put together a decent performance despite some scary situations happening in the 9th inning. After a rare defensive miscue from Hayes, Chasen Shreve would snuff the Marlins hope of a comeback and sealed the victory for the Pirates, 6-3

On the offensive side of things, the Pirates had no issues getting on base through the first four innings; the execution with runners in scoring position was the problem. If it wasn’t for a passed ball, wild pitch scoring Ke’Bryan Hayes in the 1st, and a fielding error scoring Bryse Wilson and Hayes in the 4th, the game would’ve been tied through four innings.

Hoy Park delivered a big two-out triple in the 5th inning, breaking the game open to a 5-0 lead for the Pirates. That triple was the first hit of the night that had runs score off of it.

We love a good TRIP! TRIP! TRIPLE! pic.twitter.com/73bZ9EwCrG

— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) September 18, 2021

Cole Tucker gave the Pirates two straight good performances in as many days; Tucker delivered with three hits along with a 6th inning RBI, making it a 6-2 lead.

That’s all the Pirates would need.

The offense ended the game with 10 hits but finished 3-15 with runners in scoring position.

Takeaways

Bryse Was Solid– In back-to-back nights, a Pirates starter has gone 5.0 innings; he used his sinker 28% of the time and kept the ball on the ground for most of the game. The biggest moment of the game for Wilson was not folding after giving up the two-run homer and got out of the inning with the lead intact. 

What Got Into Cole Tucker?!- Tucker has put together very strong at-bats over the last two games and went 3-5 on Saturday. In no way does this cement his stay in 2022, but for now, it’s nice to see the former 1st round pick put together a nice couple of games.  

Key Doing Key Things- Hayes smacked the baseball a few times tonight, resulting in two doubles for the young man. Both doubles were hit above 100 MPH in exit velocity, and one can only imagine what Hayes’ season would’ve been like if he stayed healthy.