José Ureña blows save chance in 6-5 walk-off loss to Pirates

Starlin Castro and Garrett Cooper continued to clobber baseballs in the heart of the lineup and Robert Dugger worked six solid frames, but José Ureña blew a two-run lead to the Pirates Wednesday night, as the Marlins suffered a 6-5 walk-off loss.

• Robert Dugger: 6.0 IP, 7 H, 3 R (2 ER), 2 BB, 2 K on 71 pitches
• Trevor Williams: 6.0 IP, 7 H, 3 R (2 ER), 1 BB, 6 K, 1 HR on 99 pitches

Remarkable night for Pittsburgh’s Bryan Reynolds. The rookie outfielder made two difficult catches in center field in addition to his game-winning bloop single.

The seesaw battle began with back-to-back doubles by Castro and Cooper in the top of the first inning. That put the Fish in front 1-0 against their former prospect Trevor Williams.

Leaning heavily on breaking balls, Dugger coughed up a pair of leads during the course of his start. Most importantly, though, he kept the ball in the park (barely) and navigated the Pirates lineup efficiently.

Castro, in the midst of arguably his best offensive road trip ever, matched a career high with four extra-base hits.

Pinch-hitter Pablo Reyes evened the score at 3-3 with his RBI double to left-center in the bottom of the sixth.

However, that wouldn’t last long. Cooper—for the second straight night—broke up a late-inning tie with a booming, 400-plus-foot home run.

It was encouraging to see Adam Conley and Ryne Stanek retire the Pirates with minimal drama in the seventh and eighth, respectively. That set the stage for the new closer Ureña, who had never been asked to appear in games on back-to-back days during his entire professional career...until now (he threw 15 pitches to earn the save on Tuesday).

The two-run advantage fell apart in a hurry—before you could blink, Reynolds was batting with the lead trimmed to 5-4 and the potential winning runs in scoring position. He gently served the first pitch he saw from Ureña into left field for the game-winner.

Right-handers Elieser Hernandez and Dario Agrazal are set to link up in Thursday’s series finale. The Marlins are attempting to take a series from an NL Central opponent for the first time in months (at Milwaukee, June 4-6). First pitch will be around 7:05 p.m. ET.

Marlins vs. Pirates box score (Baseball Theater)

Fish Picks answer key

1. Pirates
2. Over
3. Under
4. Yes
5. Pirates