Pittsburgh Pirates Takeaways & Throwaways – 4/30/16

On a rainy night, the Pittsburgh Pirates will wake up to try to sweep up the mess from Saturday’s storms, following 5-1 win over the Cincinnati Reds.

Takeaways:

Fresh Frankie – The Pirates bullpen being overworked has been one of the key stories through the first month of the 2016 season.  Francisco Liriano would be one of the last pitchers you would expect to step in and attempt to limit that.  However, Liriano was masterful, and for the first time this season, Pirates starters pitched into the seventh in back to back games.  Liriano did not walk a batter over 5.2 innings, allowing one earned run on five hits and six strikeouts.  He got some help from the defense behind him, but he also bailed his teammates out on multiple occasions.  The Pirates have now won the last 13 home starts made by Liriano.

Bench warmers – When you have a bench this potent, bench “warmer” would be an appropriate term.  It was the bench that provided the insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth inning, when Matt Joyce led off the inning with a pinch hit single and Sean Rodriguez followed it up with a line drive home run to left center field to make it 5-1 Pirates.  Rodriguez is second on the team behind only Andrew McCutchen with four home runs, all coming off the bench.  The bench will only get better with Jung-ho Kang returning at some point relatively soon and Josh Bell and Alen Hanson awaiting their chance.

Throwaways:

Playing in the rain – In any sport, playing on a wet field dramatically increases the injury risk.  It’s really unavoidable for the players.  They’re not in control of what is deemed unsafe to play, and at times tonight the rain was so insignificant, it would be easy to brush it off as not being detrimental to play.  However, the extended duration of the rain caused players in the infield to struggle fielding and gripping the ball, and outfielders Starling Marte and Andrew McCutchen to limp after making plays.  It is unclear yet how much of an impact the injuries may have on the dream outfield over the next couple days, although neither is expected to be serious at this time.

One who got away – Several times already this season, the Pirates have been able to get to the starter early, driving up the pitch count over the first two or three innings only to let him off the hook by getting some quick innings to follow.  It was the same story again tonight, as Alfredo Simon was knocked out on pitch count before recording an out in the fifth inning, but he got through the lineup the first time allowing just one hit and one run on John Jaso’s first home run with the Pirates to lead off the ball game.  During this long stretch against NL Central opponents, getting to the bullpen early and often can have big dividends in the game, the series, and beyond for the opponents.

W – Francisco Liriano

L – Alfredo Simon

S – Mark Melancon

Line of the Night: The bullpen, minus A.J. Schugel

For the first time all season, the bullpen seemed like what fans had come to expect last season.  Once Liriano handed over the ball, the bullpen took over for hitless outings from Neftali Feliz, Tony Watson, and Mark Melancon.  Even A.J. Schugel, who couldn’t get the final out in the ninth inning, only surrendered a hit and a walk before turning it over to Mark Melancon to close down the save.  Hopefully, the performance is the start of a new trend.  The bullpen also gets the boost of having Jared Hughes back from his rehab stint with the Indianapolis Indians, which forced him to miss the first month of the season.

Up Next:

A week ago today, the Reds and Pirates were tied in the NL Central division standings at 9-9.  Now, the Pirates enter Sunday looking for their seventh consecutive win, and they will try to deliver the Reds their seventh consecutive loss.  For the Pirates, Jeff Locke (1-2, 5.03 ERA) will take the mound as the third straight starter battling control issues to pitch in the series.  For the Reds, Raisel Iglesias (1-1, 3.49 ERA) will counter.   The 26-year-old has struggled in two of his last three outings, not going past the fifth inning in two of those three, which bodes well for the Pirates offense.

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