When the Giants scored two runs in the top of the ninth to take a 5-3 lead with Brian Wilson coming in, I thought, “Man, all those big hits early on and we’re still going to lose. This is a lame game to lose.” Then Delwyn Young crushed a pinch-hit home to tie the game. All that accomplished though was making the eventual loss even lamer, as it now includes a second rough outing for Octavio Dotel and Lastings Milledge and Jeff Clement stranding the tying and go-ahead runs on base in the bottom of the tenth.
Before that, the Pirates managed to come back from deficits of 2-0 and 3-2 against Tim Lincecum, who maybe isn’t quite in Cy Young form right now but who certainly didn’t look bad today. The Bucs never could get the hit they needed late in the game to break things open, though, and the bullpen just kind of game out in the end. Also, it was not at all helpful that the Giants stole five bases in five tries against Ryan Doumit and his various battery mates and the last one, by Anders Torres in the tenth, turned out to be the difference in the game.
Ross Ohlendorf didn’t pitch terribly well, either, with his walks outpacing his strikeouts again. That meant he put 11 guys on base in six innings, and the three runs he allowed could’ve been a lot more than that. On the bright side, Neil Walker drew the only two walks that Lincecum issued today. Since OBP was a huge problem for him in Double-A and Triple-A before this year, that’s one of the things I’m interesting in watching with him this year. With three walks in the last two games against the Giants, he’s got four in 46 plate appearances, which isn’t a bad start at all.
