Pittsburgh Pirates Wake-Up Call – Extra Inning Affair

In our daily Wake-Up Call, we get you ready for the day with a complete look at all things Pittsburgh Pirates

The Pirates completed arguably the team’s craziest game of the season last night in a 13-inning affair against the Diamondbacks. The Pirates notched 20 hits, the most they’ve had in a game since July of last season.

The Pirates 20 hits tonight are the most since July 1, 2015 at Detroit (21). #KeeptheHitsComing pic.twitter.com/b0y6KE7zwd

— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) April 25, 2016

This game essentially defined everything the Pirates have been about up to this point in the season. Their entire lineup is a threat offensively (outside of Andrew McCutchen, who seems to be the only player struggling at the plate), while the entire pitching staff, including the bullpen, is a disaster and keeps the other team in games. Francisco Liriano started the game and continued to struggle, giving up four earned runs, including two home runs. His trend of giving up home runs this season is becoming a problem to say the least. Mark Melancon, who was one of the only members of the pen that hadn’t struggled this season, blew a save in the bottom of the ninth by giving up a two-run home run to Paul Goldschmidt. Neftali Feliz also struggled, giving up two runs, though he had been pitching well this season up until that point. The Pirates did finally pull out the victory, but this team will be hard-pressed to keep winning high-scoring games over the course of the season. I don’t see how this offense as a whole can keep up the success they’re having from top to bottom. John Jaso and David Freese should come back down to earth, even if guys like Starling Marte and Gregory Polanco keep up their success.

Andrew McCutchen is clearly struggling, and that’s an issue. He’s doing better than he was last April, and I have faith he’ll turn it around, but it’s certainly at least a bit concerning at the moment. We’ll break down his struggles in-depth later this week.

On the pitching side, Jeff Locke looks to be the odd man out of the starting rotation if either Tyler Glasnow or Jameson Taillon were to be called up. I don’t see either of them coming up until June, but his 7.24 ERA is bad to say the least. If the staff as a whole continues to struggle, I wonder how long the Pirates wait until one of those two gets the call.

As always, here are some links from around the web. Enjoy!

Yasiel Puig surprised some kids at a prom in Denver, Colorado after a game against the Rockies this week.

If you thought the Pirates game was crazy, check out the Nationals 16-inning walk-off win against the Twins.

Josh Donaldson‘s mom threw out the first pitch against the Athletics recently, on Josh Donaldson Bobblehad Day. Pretty cool.

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