The Pittsburgh Pirates were handed their first loss of the season on Saturday afternoon when the Cincinnati Red defeated them 5-1. Here is a quick look at the good and the bad from game five of the season.
- The 5-6-7 hitters had a tremendous afternoon. Francisco Cervelli, Gregory Polanco and Josh Harrison went a combined seven for ten at the plate. Cervelli and Polanco also each added a walk to the offensive tally as well. Polanco now leads the NL in walks five games into the season.
- New leadoff hitter John Jaso collected two doubles today, so while he may not have drawn a walk with is his calling card, he is still getting on base and in this case added a few extra base hits to his season total.
- Gerrit Cole looked nothing the dominant pitcher he was last season during his debut today. He only lasted four and two thirds innings and needed 100 pitches to go that far. He only struck out four hitters and issued three walks. One of those walks was on four pitches to Billy Hamilton, a player that you do not want on the base paths. Given that this was his first start of the year and he did miss some time during spring training, there is a good chance that Cole was just a little rusty today and should start hitting his stride as he gets more starts under his belt and the weather warms up.
- While the Pirates did outhit the Red 10-8, they left entirely too many men on base throughout the game. Nine men were left on base when the third out was recorded throughout the game, but individually the hitters left an absurd 18 men on base. Jordy Mercer was hitless in his four at-bats and left seven men on base. While this is just one game, this is a perfect example of how not coming through with runners on base can doom a team in any given game.
- The Pirates gave away a number of outs today with poor baserunning. In the second inning Polanco was thrown out trying to get back to first after Mercer lined out. Then in the seventh, in what was one of the Pirates best chances to tie the game, Andrew McCutchen hit a weak ground ball to first with John Jaso on second and Matt Joyce on third Thinking that Joyce would break for home, Jaso ran too far between the bases and could not get back to second in time.
W – Iglesias (1-0)
L – Cole (0-1)
Line of the day: Cole’s final line was an ugly one. Cole went for 4.2 innings pitched, allowing five hits leading to three earned runs. Cole needed 100 pitches to get through his short outing. On the plus side, Cervelli had a great line. He reached base all four times he came to the plate, collecting three hits and a walk. He also scored the lone run for the Pirates today.
Next up: The three games series wraps up on Sunday at 1:10pm when Jeff Locke makes his season debut against a yet to be named starter for the Reds. Locke, who went 8-11 with a 4.49 ERA in 2015 will look to come out strong and make a strong claim to owning the fifth spot in the rotation this season.
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