The Lowest Lowlight From A Slapstick Pirates Loss Was This Three-Run Sacrifice Fly

Though there were almost no fans in attendance to see it, something extremely dumb and good happened in last night’s silly Pirates-Marlins game: with one out in the bottom of the 5th inning, with the bases loaded, Marlins second baseman Starlin Castro skied a fly ball to right field for what would normally produce nothing more exciting than a sacrifice fly and maybe a play at the plate. Until!

That’s Pirates catcher Elías Díaz just straight up throwing a two-run double nearly to the warning track in center field. The error gave the Marlins a three-run lead; they padded the lead with a few more runs and won, 7-2. It was a mistake-filled mess of a game for the Pirates: the Marlins got their first run on a wild pitch; these three were plated on a damn sac-fly; Miami’s next run came the following inning, when a sacrifice bunt scored a runner from second after Pirates reliever Kyle Crick failed to cover home. Per the :

“We left the door open and they ran through it like major league teams do,” manager Clint Hurdle said.

Very classy and generous of Hurdle to compare the Marlins to a major league baseball team. If opposing teams are going to play like the Keystone Cops, maybe people should attend Marlins games after all!