Pirates fall to Rays 4-3 in extra innings

The Pittsburgh Pirates were victimized by a 10th-inning pinch-hit, walk-off single by Harold Ramirez that squashed an earlier Buccos comeback and led to a 4-3 defeat to the Tampa Bay Rays and kicked off the new series with defeat after they took three of four from the Chicago Cubs earlier this week.

Mitch Keller got off to a rocky start, allowing three runs in the first inning, but he settled in and went the Shelton Five and actually looked pretty good as the game went on, finishing with a line of five innings pitched, giving up three runs on five hits with a walk and five strikeouts.

Then Keller got some support from the Bucco bats, as Michael Chavis and Deigo Castillo hit solo homers in the fourth, which were their eighth and sixth homers of the season respectively, followed by Hoy Park tying the game up in the fifth with a solo shot, his second dinger of the year.

After Keller left, the Pittsburgh bullpen only gave up one hit the rest of the way until the fateful bottom of the 10th when Ramirez’s single off of Yerry De Los Santos scored extra innings runner Vidal Bruján, who had stolen third base, to end the game.

The Bucs had three multi-hit players for the game, including Chavis, who went 2-for-5, Oneil Cruz, who went 2-for-4, and Park, who also went 2-for-4, but the Pirates also struck out a whopping 17 times (not a misprint!) on the evening and didn’t walk once.

Keller got the no decision, while De Los Santos took the loss, and Jason Adam got the win for the Rays.

The Bucs are back in action this afternoon at 1:10pm.