Motor City Two Face

What went right/wrong for the Pittsburgh Pirates (5-3) in their split of the front half of this four game series with the Detroit Tigers (4-2). 

Right

We’ll start with the good news first. The Bucs did shower well from Sunday to Monday as they hammered Justin Verlander for seven runs in 4 1/3 innings in an eventual 7-4 victory over the Tigers yesterday afternoon. Jonathon Niese delivered a solid performance with four runs allowed, three earned, on five hits in six innings while walking one and striking out five. While his pitch count was slightly elevated, Niese did a good job keeping the ball on the ground. Of his 18 batters retired, he collected seven ground ball outs and the Bucs recorded three double plays behind him. As usual, the bullpen finished the game with strong performances from the three headed monster of Neftali Feliz, Tony Watson, and Mark Melancon, which shut down the Detroit bats in the seventh, eighth, and ninth respectively.

On offense, the Pirates displayed a total team effort. Every member of the starting lineup recorded at least one hit and the Bucs got RBI’s up and down the batting order. John Jaso, rookie DH Matt Joyce, Francisco Cervelli, Gregory Polanco, Sean Rodriguez, and Jordy Mercer each knocked in at least one run for the Bucs against the beleaguered Verlander. It took the former Detroit ace 111 pitches to record just 13 outs. Pittsburgh still stranded eight men on base, but the Pirates did manage to go 6-for-15 (.400) with RISP.

Wrong

So, since just about everything went right on Monday, it’s only fitting that Murphy’s law would kick in against the Pirates this afternoon. With the pitching performances from the starters pretty much reversed, the Bucs fell flat in an 8-2 loss that ties up the series at a game apiece. Juan Nicasio was shelled in just three innings allowing four earned runs on six hits while walking five and striking out four. Justin Upton kicked off the scoring barage for Detroit with a solo homer in the first, his first in a Tiger uniform,  and Ian Kinsler also went yard in the seventh off Cory Luebke. The only bright spot for the Pirates came in the top of the sixth inning when Starling Marte launched a two-run homer off of starter Annibal Sanchez that cut the Tiger lead to 4-2. However, Detroit responded with four unanswered runs, three of which came in the bottom of the sixth on a two-run double by Victor Martinez, and an RBI double by J.D. Martinez. Kinsler’s home run an inning later put the icing on the cake. The Bucs struggled again with getting clutch hits, leaving five baserunners and going 1-for-7 (.143) with RISP.

Back to the Burgh

The series shifts to PNC Park tomorrow night as the Bucs look to snap out of losing three of their last four. Shane Greene (0-0, 0.00 ERA) returns to the Tigers rotation against a guy who hasn’t made a start in a Pittsburgh uniform in over a decade. Veteran Ryan Vogelsong (1-0, 4.50 ERA) will take the ball for the Bucs in place of Francisco Liriano for the first pitch at 7:05 PM EDT.

Stats courtesy MLB Gameday

A Whole Lot Of Dirt

A last quick look at a couple of games that the Pittsburgh Pirates (4-2) would very much like to forget.

Pirates manager Clint Hurdle has always stressed that his team needs, and has, the ability to “shower well.” In other words, they should always be able to wash away the failures of any given performance in order to refocus and revitalize for their next contest.

That ability is gonna be put to the test for the first time this season in less than two hours.

Pittsburgh lost its first two games of the year back-to-back against the Cincinnati Reds (5-1),  and blew numerous scoring opportunities in the process. Over the final two games of the series, the Bucs went . . . (are you ready for this?) 3-for-24 (.125 average) with RISP and stranded 23 men on base. Pittsburgh came up with just one RBI hit in 19 innings after Starling Marte’s grand slam in the eight on Friday. Josh Harrison’s run scoring single in the 6th inning on Saturday accounted for the Pirates lone run in a 5-1 loss. Chris Stewart’s solo home run was the only offense for the Bucs in yesterday’s 2-1 walk-off loss. Jordy Mercer went 0-for-4 on Saturday and left seven men on base, and Harrison went 1-for-5 on Sunday, also leaving seven baserunners. If the Pirates are going to win games, they have to get production from the bottom of the lineup. It’s that simple. The Pirates came up with 19 hits in the final two games, but just two runs to show for it.

That simply cannot continue.

The Bucs pitching was also inconsistent as Gerrit Cole struggled a bit in his season debut on Saturday. He got through just 4 2/3 innings allowing three runs on five hits with three walks and four strikeouts and it took him 100 pitches to do so. Arquimedes Caminero pitched a scoreless 1 1/3 inning, but Kyle Lobstein allowed the game-clinching, two-run home run to Eugenio Suarez in the seventh. Jeff Locke pitched well on Sunday allowing just one run (a solo shot by Suarez) on seven hits in six innings with two walks and one strikeout. However, the offense couldn’t give him any run support and the bullpen couldn’t keep Cincinnati off the board. Neftali Feliz and Tony Watson held the Reds scoreless in the seventh and eight, but Caminero allowed the walk-off RBI triple to Jay Bruce in the ninth.

Who’s Next

Pittsburgh will be looking to get back into the win column at 1:10 this afternoon against the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park. Jonathan Niese (0-0, 7.20 ERA) will take the ball for the Bucs against Justin Verlander (0-0 4.50 ERA).

Stats courtesy MLB Gameday

An Impressive Start

A more refined look at the Opening Series of the season between the St. Louis Cardinals (0-3) and the Pittsburgh Pirates (3-0). My apologies for this post arriving so late.

Could It Have Been Much Better?

If you’re a Pirates fan right now, you’ve got to be going gaga over the way the past three games have turned out. Just about every critical moment went Pittsburgh’s way. The Bucs compiled a slew of clutch hits, big outs, stellar defensive plays, and par excellence pitching performances in their first three game sweep of the Redbirds since 2008 and their first 3-0 start since 2003.

Just about every member of the Pirates starting lineup had a key contribution. Starling Marte was the slowest starter but, after being held without a hit in the first two games, he still came through Wednesday night going 2-for-3 with a run scored in Pittsburgh’s 5-1 victory. Probably the most consistent performer on offense was Andrew McCutchen as the All Star picked up right where he left off in Bradenton. He went 5-for-9 with a walk, an RBI, and two runs scored over the series. April has been Cutch’s worst month historically speaking so it will be interesting to see whether or not he can maintain. All time, McCutchen has a triple slash of .264/.350/.422 with an OPS of just .771 for the inaugural month of the season. Those certainly are not terrible numbers, but when you stack them up against his line for the other five months of the regular season, there’s no comparison.

May:         .320/.409/.516 .771 OPS
June:         .323/.398/.533 .925 OPS
July:          .305/.382/.537 .919 OPS
August  .296/.391/.496 .887 OPS
Sept/Oct .278/.396/.465 .861 OPS

Numbers courtesy Baseball Reference

If the Bucs want to keep up their hot start, they need their center piece to be in midseason form.

Juan Nicasio also picked up right where he left off in spring training with a stellar debut on Wednesday. With just one run allowed on two hits and seven strikeouts in six frames, the young right hander more than proved his worth in the starting rotation. If Nicasio can build from his solid start, the Bucs rotation should be in very good hands.

Update: 4-0

Tonight, the Bucs put their comeback skills on display in Cincinnati for a 6-5 victory highlighted by Starling Marte’s grand slam in the eight inning. It was the first home run hit by a Pirate this season and it also give Pittsburgh its fist 4-0 record since 2003. The win is particularly impressive considering that the Bucs went just 2-11 with RISP, stranded 11 men on base, and saw their 5-6-7 (Francisco Cervelli, Gregory Polanco, and Josh Harrison) go a combined 0-for-11 with one walk and one RBI. Francisco Liriano continued his amazing performance at the plate with two more hits and another RBI single, accounting for half of the Pirates offense until Marte’s blast.

This win is particularly unlikely seeing as though the Bucs had two outs and no one on in the 8th before former Pirate Ross Ohlendorf hit John Jaso with a 92 MPH fastball. Andrew McCutchen followed with a walk and David Freese singled to load the bases for Marte. J J Hoover was brought on in relief and two pitches into his outing, Pittsburgh took the lead for good. The Pirates also had to overcome sloppy defense and sub-par pitching for their fourth straight win to begin 2016. Overall, it feels pretty good to be a Bucs fan right about now.

Tomorrow afternoon, it’ll be Gerrit Cole’s turn to make his season debut against Raisel Iglesias (0-0, 3.00 ERA).

Stats courtesy MLB Gameday

 

Thoughts On Opening Day

Comments and observations from yesterday’s showdown between the St. Louis Cardinals (0-1) and the Pittsburgh Pirates (1-0).

So Many Positives

As far as the events that transpired on the field, Pirates fans almost couldn’t be happier. Pittsburgh bested the defending division champs in every phase of the game and ultimately came away with a 4-1 victory on a chilly but sunlit day at PNC Park. Francisco Liriano (1-0), despite walking five batters, looked as solid as ever with three hits allowed in six shutout innings. He also tied a Pirates Opening Day record with 10 strikeouts and drove in the first run of the season with an RBI single in the second that scored Gregory Polanco. From there, Tony Watson, newcomer Neftali Feliz, and reigning NL saves leader Mark Melancon combined to limit the Redbirds to just one run on two hits over the final three frames.

So, as usual, the pitching was really good. The surprising positives came from the brand new corner infielders who, interestingly enough, were tested over the first two outs of the game. First baseman John Jaso made an outstanding play against Matt Carpenter two pitches into the contest and former Cardinal David Freese retired Tommy Pham with a barehand play on a weak grounder on the very next offering from Liriano. With the exception of a throwing error in the third by catcher Francisco Cervelli, the defense remained sharp for the rest of the afternoon. Freese turned in a couple more good plays at third and Jordy Mercer executed a critical double play to highlight the defensive effort.

Offensively, there were some missed opportunities, but on the whole the Bucs did a pretty good job of cashing in against Adam Wainwright (0-1). RBI singles from Liriano and Jaso, along with a sac fly from Josh Harrison, were enough to dismiss Wainwright after six frames and Mercer added some insurance with an RBI double in the 8th. While they did strand eight base runners and went just 3-for-11 with runners in scoring position, the Bucs wasted relatively few scoring opportunities, which is certainly a welcome sight given their propensity for leaving a shipload of baserunners numerous times in recent years. With the exception of Starling Marte, every member of the Bucs starting lineup either reached base or drove in a run. Freese went 2-for-4 from the third slot of the batting order so it will be interesting to see how long he can continue that success in the usual lineup spot of Andrew McCutchen. The star centerfielder went 0-for-2 on the afternoon in the number two whole, but he did reach base via a HBP in the first. How Cutch handles the second spot in the lineup will also be fascinating to see as he has minimal experience in that position. In 20 career games, he has 20 hits in 72 at bats (.278 average) with one home run.

Big Time Extension

Perhaps the biggest news to come out of the last 36 hours is the signing of Gregory Polanco to a five year, $35 million contract extension. As per ESPN, Polanco has a huge upside considering his age (24) and his vast improvement offensively over the course of his first full big league season in 2015. With McCutchen and Marte already locked up with multi-year contracts, it looks as though the Pirates could have one of the best outfields in the National League if not all of Major League Baseball for the next few seasons. Of course much will depend on the health and continued development of those three, but the pieces have been put in place. It does beg the question as to why Neil Walker was not considered worthy of a contract extension along with his former teammates in the outfield, but only time will tell of Pirates GM Neil Huntington made the right call in trading the hometown product to the New York Mets for Jonathon Niese. Given Huntington’s track record, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Next Up

Niese will get his first crack at the mound in a Black and Gold uniform tomorrow night against Michael Wacha in game two with the first pitch at 7:05 PM EDT.

Stats courtesy MLB Gameday and Baseball Reference. Link to ESPN.com