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Pirates Defeat Dodgers 5-1

Posted by Frederick Chan on Mar 30 2004 at 04:00PM PST
The K.C. Pirates defeated the Dodgers by a score of 5-1 at Kyle Chapman field in the early game on Tuesday, March 30, 2004. Statistics usually tell the tale of a baseball game. Tonight, they only tell part of the story. Dodgers pitchers struck out 8 Pirates and the Pirates' pitcher struck out 8 Dodgers. Dodgers pitchers gave up 4 hits to the Pirates, and the Pirates gave up 5 hits to the Dodgers. The Dodgers committed 4 errors and the Pirates committed 3 errors. Why, then was there a 4 run difference on the scoreboard? The answer is simple. The Pirates managed to group Dodger walks, hit-by-pitches, errors and hits into three innings and usually with less than two out. Contrast that with the Dodgers who got the leadoff batter on base only once in 5 innings. Now look at the first three batters up each inning. The Pirates got two out of their first three batters on base in the first inning, one out of three in the second, two out of three in the third, two out of three in the fourth, and one out of three in the fifth. Interestingly, the Pirates scored two of their runs in the first inning, one in the third, and two in the fourth. Thus, the Pirates scored runs in each inning in which more than one of their first three batters reached base. Now look at the Dodgers. In the first inning, two out of the first three batters reached base, but were stranded by two strikeouts. In the second, two out of the first three reached base and one scored. In the third, none reached base and none scored. In the fourth, two out of the first three Dodger batters struck out and no runs scored. In the fifth inning, one out of the first three batters reached base and none scored. Thus, the Pirates were successful in getting runners on base early in most innings (with no out or one out), and when they did, they generally scored. Conversely, the Dodgers got many of their baserunners with two outs, and therefore, were unable to score as often. Game highlights included a very nice complete game pitching performance by winning pitcher, Jeff Rohrbach, a combined 8 strikeout pitching performance by Dodger pitchers Andrew Jones and Sean Flaharty, a first inning single by Jeff Rohrbach to give his team enough runs to win the game (2 RBI's), a second inning bullet from the right arm of catcher, Jeremy Schaffer, to pick a Pirates' runner off of first base, a nice throw by the Pirates right fielder to nail a Dodgers' runner at home plate by a wide margin, a 4th inning RBI single by Randy Rojas, a 3 strikeout inning for Jeff Rohrbach in the 4th inning, and another nice throwout by Jeremy Schaffer to nail a Pirate runner trying to steal second base in the 5th inning. Tonight's loss evens the Dodgers' season record at 2-2. With the win, the Pirates snuck past the Dodgers in the standings, boosting their season record to 2-1. The Dodgers are in action again Thursday night in the 6pm early game against the Marlins. The Marlins have a grueling week, facing the Cardinals on Tuesday night, the Astros on Wednesday night, and the Dodgers on Thursday night. See you at the ballpark. By Scott Rothenberg

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