Chris Archer's line Tuesday against the Rockies: 5.0 IP, six hits, four runs, three ER, three strikeouts, two walks, 92 pitches, 58 strikes.
Colorado starter German Marquez's line: 8.0 IP, three hits, zero runs, one walk, seven strikeouts on 28 batters faced.
Wanna guess who won the game?
Yeah, the Rockies won in a runaway, 5-0, Tuesday night at PNC Park to take a 1-0 lead in the three-game series. The scoring opened in perfect fashion. This game was not pretty for the Pirates, and it's all captured right here in a tidy 30-second clip:
Take it in: The failed pickle. Daniel Murphy's impish giggle as he crosses home plate. The score, no longer locked at zero. That, right there in the top of the second inning, was the game-winning run. It didn't get any better for the home team.
Archer struggled, giving up a home run in the following frame to Trevor Story. Bryan Reynolds almost had it at the wall — but he didn't.
Archer then walked two in the fourth before a sacrifice bunt from Marquez advanced the runners. Charlie Blackmon quickly added a two-run triple to bring 'em in. Even on Reynolds' near-snag, though, Archer wasn't making excuses. He knew he wasn't at his best, and he knew it cost his team a win.
"With the ball that went off Bryan’s glove, the dude hit it, like, a long ways," Archer said. "And you know, good pitchers get out of those situations. They minimize the damage. I was really close but came up a little short."
He did, and on consecutive walks — eight pitches total, mind you — he came up very short. Once again, Archer was quick to address it. But this time, he ended things with a positive spin:
This is what's expected, right? I mean, Dejan Kovacevic literally just wrote about how bizarre this team is, how they're winning despite all metrics saying they shouldn't. That they'd get blanked but keep their heads high and remain focused on tomorrow? That just makes sense.
But tonight, there were no heroics, there was no Starling Marte walkoff home run and no Josh Bell blast into the river to ignite the crowd. Tonight, the Pirates just fell flat, in part because of Marquez's brilliance and in part because of their own inability to make things happen.
That's baseball. It's a long season, as Clint Hurdle is fond of reminding us. Let's drill down into some specifics instead of focusing on that glaring 5-0 score on the jumbotron.
To continue reading, log into your account:
