PIRATES

An inning after Brandon Lowe put them ahead with a solo home run, the Pirates had prime opportunities to add on with runners on third on two separate occasions. 

Spencer Horwitz led off the second inning with his first career triple, but a mess on the basepaths made that meaningless. With one out, Oneil Cruz followed a Henry Davis walk with a grounder hit at first baseman Ildemaro Vargas. Vargas wisely threw home, as Horwitz and his fifth percentile speed took off for the plate. He got himself into a brief rundown before being tagged out. Davis took off for third but was then thrown out for the inning-ending double play. 

Davis did the right thing. If anything, it was imperative to get a runner to third if Horwitz would be the second out. He didn't stay in the rundown long enough, though, which hurt Davis. 

"Spence got caught in-between on it," Don Kelly said. "Gotta try to stay in the rundown a little bit longer. With Cruz, maybe not going to be able to double him up right there. So just be a little more patient at third."

The second instance wasn't as much on the fault of the runner in Konnor Griffin. He led off the seventh with a single, stole second and took third on a balk before taking off for home on a one-out grounder by Cruz. Ketel Marte fielded the ball cleanly and delivered a strong throw home. Griffin, who has plus speed, nearly slid in safely, but Gabriel Moreno tagged the hand. 

"I thought Marte made a heck of a play," Kelly said. "If he doesn't put that ball right where he threw it, Konnor's safe. I mean, he basically tagged Konnor with the throw. In that moment, I thought Konnor had a great read."

The Pirates have two runs over their past 26 innings dating back to Sunday.