Morning Rundown: Pirates drop second straight against Diamondbacks, FCL team makes championship

Pirates fall back to .500, FCL team reaches championship

Jul 28, 2024

Oneil Cruz hit a towering home run in the first inning, but the Pirates pitching imploded, giving up nine runs as they dropped the second game of their weekend set against the Diamondbacks.

Marco Gonzales didn't make it out of the third inning, allowing four earned runs on seven hits and three walks. Quinn Priester pitched the last four innings, allowing another five earned runs.

The offense rallied in the fifth, scoring three runs and tying the game, but Arizona scored two in the bottom of the inning and three more in the sixth to push them back ahead.

Cruz picked up two hits, one a massive home run and the other a triple. He now has 16 home runs on the season.

After Rowdy Tellez left the game early Friday, he didn’t play on Saturday. Now, attention will be on Nick Gonzales, who left the game running out a ball to first. The official word is a groin issue.

The Pirates will look to avoid the sweep on Sunday, with Mitch Keller scheduled to make the start.

The Pirates will play for the Florida Complex League championship after a come-from-behind victory on Saturday against the FCL Yankees.

After falling behind 3-0 in the second inning, the Pirates scored four unanswered runs to win in the semi-finals.

Yordany De Los Santos picked up a pair of hits and used his speed again to create offense. An error by the catcher as Yordany was stealing third allowed him to score, getting the Pirates on the board.

Luke Scherrer drove in De Los Santos on an RBI single in the sixth inning, and Jhonny Severino hit an RBI double in the seventh to tie the game.

Carlos Tirado drove in Juan Machado to give the Pirates the lead and eventually the win.

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Victor Cabreja pitched three shutout innings, striking out four batters. David Matoma pitched an inning in relief and got the win. Noah Takacs and Greiber Mendez pitched the eighth and ninth to close things out.

The Pirates will face the Tigers in a best-of-three series for the FCL Championship. Game one will be on Sunday.

Bubba Chandler's start was interesting, as it got off to a rough start, but he eventually settled down.

He walked the lead-off hitter, allowed a single, and then both runners scored on a triple. After a strikeout, that runner on third scored on a balk. Two of the next three batters were strikeouts. He struck out three while allowing three runs in the first.

Chandler pitched 3.2 more innings, allowing just three hits and a walk (one earned run) while striking out four. He threw 96 pitches, 63 of which were strikes.

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