The Pittsburgh Pirates wrapped up a terrible weekend in Chicago with a 10-5 loss to the Cubs, giving the North Siders the series sweep. Here are the takeaways and throwaways from Sunday’s loss.
Takeaways
- The offense was quiet against Kyle Hendricks other than Josh Harrison‘s third home run of the season, but the bats started to wake up in the seventh. Starling Marte brought in two runs with a triple and Jung ho Kang added an infield single to score Marte. Harrison, Marte, Kang and Gregory Polanco all racked up multi-hit games on Sunday.
- Even though it came at the end of the game when a comeback was pretty much out of reach, it was good to see Andrew McCutchen add an RBI to his total in the ninth inning. With many of his teammates hitting well right now, a hot streak by McCutchen could be integral in turning the season around.
Throwaways
- After a brilliant outing against the New York Mets, Jameson Taillon struggled against the Cubs. He ran his pitch count up in the first inning, and ultimately his night ended after just four innings. He gave up four runs on eight hits and a walk while striking out five. He was doomed by the longball, as he gave up three on the night. Fortunately they were of the solo variety and there were no men on base at the time.
- It was a rough night for a trio of young men who made their MLB debut on Sunday night. Jacob Stallings started his first game at catcher and was hitless in four at-bats, including two strikeouts. Curtis Partch was called upon to work the seventh inning and allowed all three hitters he faced to reach base, including a single that scored another run. Jorge Rondon came in to finish the inning and allowed one of Partch’s runners to score and also gave up a two run shot to Addison Russell (unfortunately one of those runners belong to Partch). These were not the kind of debuts a struggling team wanted to see.
W – Kyle Hendricks (5-4)
L – Jameson Taillon (1-1)
Line of the Night
It should come to the surprise of no one that the strength of the starting pitching led to the Cubs sweeping the series. But nobody saw Kyle Hendricks having the type of night he did.
Hendricks dominated the Pittsburgh hitters for six innings on the way to his fifth win of the season. Not known as a strikeout pitcher, Hendricks racked up an incredible total of 12, keeping the ball low in the strike zone all night. Unfortunately for the Pirates, Hendricks has been one of the weaker members of the Chicago rotation but pitched like an ace on Sunday.
Up Next
The Pirates will begin a four game series against the San Francisco Giants on Monday, when lefties Madison Bumgarner (8-2, 1.91) and Jeff Locke (5-5, 5.92) take the mound for their clubs. Bumgarner has registered a quality start in his last seven outings, including most recently limiting the Milwaukee Brewers to two runs over eight innings his last time out. Locke’s last two starts have been disasters, giving up a total of 18 runs in just eight and two third innings in that span.
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