This is what annoyed me about this game:
1.) Jose Contreras was brought into a one-run game in the seventh inning and allowed to stay in long enough to walk four batters.
2.) These were the six batters Jose Contreras — a irght-handed pitcher — was allowed to face in his disastrous inning: Miguel Cabrera, Prince Fielder (lefty), Victor Martinez (switch-hitter, no platoon split), Jhonny Peralta, Don Kelly (lefty), Brayan Pena (switch hitter, better against right-handed pitching).
3.) As noted before the game, THE PIRATES HAVE THREE LEFT-HANDED RELIEF PITCHERS. The inning beore Contreras pitched, lefty Mike Zagurski faced Pena, Avisail Garcia (righty), Omar Infante (righty), and Torii Hunter (righty).
4.) Like, seriously, what's the point?
5.) Also: Josh Harrison, pinch-runner.
Look: the Pirates won a bunch of one-run games in a row and as losses go, you tend to figure that the games where you face Justin Verlander are going to end up in the loss column. But the Pirates had an opportunity in this one and they blew it, mostly through bad decisions all over the place. Pretty infuriating.
