Best Honeymoon Ever! Game 3: Phillies vs Pirates & Game 4: Braves at Red Sox

Best Honeymoon Ever, Game 3: Philadelphia Phillies at Pittsburgh Pirates

Game Review:

While he won his 10th game of the season in this game, Gerrit Cole wasn’t exactly sharp on the day. My wife described this as the slowest game of the trip, and with Cole’s frequent strolls around the mound and Sean O’Sullivan‘s general slow demeanor in his pitching, it did feel like an eternity until those two were out.

Cole did throw 6 innings without a walk while striking out 7, but watching the game certainly didn’t look dominant. Maikel Franco got very solid hits on him, and he simply couldn’t get Ben Revere out. Even the one out he did get almost looked like the diminutive Revere was going to drive the ball deep to the gap before Andrew McCutchen made a great running grab on the ball. Revere also stole two bases on Cole and Chris Stewart, the first of which drawing a poor throw from Stewart that put Revere on third, where he’d score for the first run of the game.

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Chase Utley and Ryan Howard both looked very rough, with Utley struggling to have the same swing on back to back plate appearances. Franco, on the other hand, looked very comfortable at the plate for a rookie. He wasn’t fazed at all by facing Cole, either.

Tony Watson made the game interesting in the 8th, bringing Philadelphia within a run before Mark Melancon shut the door with a dominant ninth.

Stadium Review:

PNC Park was my favorite park by quite a ways. The river walk is simply gorgeous, and I love the view of the Pittsburgh sky line beyond the center field wall. Pittsburgh also had a very solid scoreboard system, offering not just the pitch thrown and the speed of the pitch, but also the vertical and horizontal break of the pitch.

The post-game at the park was fun as well as Big and Rich and Cowboy Troy played a concert right on the field after the game. My only “regret” is that we saw an afternoon game at PNC as every report I hear is that the view beyond center field is incredible at night.