Instead of struggling mightily against Josh Johnson tonight, the Pirates did something worse. They peppered the bases with runners all night, but only once put together two hits in an inning and ended up only scoring on two solo home runs. That meant that Ross Ohlendorf got hung out to dry again, taking his tenth loss on the season and attempting to single-handedly make sure that anyone that still thinks that a pitcher’s win/loss record is worth something seriously reconsider their position.
The defense didn’t help Ohlendorf either, tonight. Andrew McCutchen whiffed on a line drive to Cody Ross to deep center in the fifth and that turned into a Marlin run. This was the sort of play we’d KILL Ryan Doumit for; he ran to the spot, watched the ball in, and it just completely missed his glove. I have no idea what happened and I suspect he doesn’t either. Then, Lastings Milledge couldn’t make a good throw to the plate on a foul ball to shallow right field and allowed Joggin’ Ronny Paulino to score from third. It was a tough play for Milledge, but Paulino’s far from a speedster.
Losing to Josh Johnson is something I can accept. Losing to Josh Johnson when the Pirates’ starter out-pitches him is something that’s a little harder to swallow.
