Swing and a Miss: Pirates Strike Out 14 Times in Loss to Royals

PITTSBURGH — It was the tale of two pitchers on Friday night at PNC Park as Luis Ortiz struggled and Alec Marsh shined in an 8-3 loss for the Pittsburgh Pirates against the Kansas City Royals.

Recap

The Royals (81-67) erupted for six runs in the second inning after an Ortiz throwing error opened the floodgates. 

Yuli Gurriel singled home a run and Kyle Isbel followed with a double to right field. After a Tommy Pham two-run single, Salvador Perez connected on a two-run home run to center field. 

Ortiz (6-6) rebounded to strike out the side in order in the third but Isbel hit a solo homer over the Clemente Wall in the fourth to extend the Royals’ lead to 7-0.

The Pirates (70-77) got on the board in the sixth inning when Joey Bart singled home Oneil Cruz, who led off the inning with a double.

That was the only run the Pirates recorded against Marsh (8-8), who mowed the Pirates down across 5.1 innings. 

The score remained 7-1 until former Pirates All-Star Adam Frazier unloaded on a solo homer to right field off of Kyle Nicolas in the eighth inning. 

Reynolds, who doubled twice in the loss, hit a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the ninth for the Pirates’ second run of the game. Cruz followed with an RBI-single for his second hit of the night. After allowing two runs, Chris Stratton got Andrew McCutchen to fly out to end the game.

Key Moment

Following Ortiz’s error, the Royals recorded three-straight hits while all six runs in the inning came after the errant throw. The big inning decided the game. 

Star of the Game

Dating back to the start of June, Marsh had a 5.73 over 14 appearances but the right-hander delivered one of his best starts of the season against the Pirates. 

Stat to Know

Marsh tied a career-high with 11 strikeouts. He previously struck out 11 in six innings against the Tampa Bay Rays last year on July 15.

Noteworthy

• Outside of Bryan De La Cruz, every other Pirates’ player to record an at-bat struck out at least one time.
• Marco Gonzales underwent season-ending surgery on his left arm to repair his left flexor tendon. 

Up Next

Mitch Keller (11-9, 3.85 ERA) will start for the Pirates in the second game of the series on Saturday night. The Royals will have Michael Wacha (12-7, 3.34 ERA) on the mound. First pitch: 6:40 ET.