The Pittsburgh Pirates ended their season with a 3-0 victory over the Miami Marlins Sunday. Five Pirates pitchers tossed shutout baseball, led by starting pitcher Andre Jackson who allowed one hit over four innings. David Bednar closed the game with a perfect ninth inning for his 39th save of the season. The Pirates were held to one hit through the first six inning, but rallied for three runs in the eighth. Miguel Andujar and Jack Suwinski both had doubles in that inning.
The Pirates finished their season 76-86, a 14-game improvement over 2022. In their final 67 games, they went 35-32. Bednar had 22 saves since the All-Star break. Only Jim Gott in 1988 had more during that portion of the season since saves became an official stat in 1969.
Miami clinched a playoff spot over the Chicago Cubs with a 7-3 victory Saturday over the Pirates. The Marlins edged the Bucs 4-3 Friday night. Miami won the final Wild Card by a half-game over the Cubs.
The Major League Baseball Playoffs begin Tuesday with the best-of-three Wild Card games. The Houston Astros clinched the American League West Division with an 8-1 win in Arizona Sunday. The victory earned the Astros a first-round playoff “bye”. They finished tied with Texas in the West, but won a tie-breaker. The Rangers lost their final game of the season 1-0 to Seattle Sunday. The Mariners missed the post-season by one game.
Wild Card schedule for Tuesday:
–Tampa Bay will host Texas at 3pm on ABC.
–Minnesota will host Toronto at 4:30pm on ESPN.
–Milwaukee will host Arizona at 7pm on ESPN2.
–Philadelphia will host Miami at 8pm on ESPN.
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