Pittsburgh Pirates Takeaways & Throwaways – A Giant Loss

After winning a tight 1-0 run game on Monday, the Pittsburgh Pirates were pounded 15-4 by the San Francisco Giants, easily the worst loss so far this season. Here are the takeaways and throwaways from a game the team will look to put behind them immediately and start with a clean slate on Wednesday.

Takeaways

• In a big loss like the one the Pirates suffered on Tuesday, there are not many bright spots. But one from the game was Jacob Stallings collecting his first career hit and RBI, a double in the seventh that scored Sean Rodriguez. With Francisco Cervelli on the shelf for a few more weeks, Stallings could use this time to get an extended look by the big club.
• Eric Kratz, yes the catcher the team acquired just a few days ago, was called upon to pitch the ninth inning. He pitched a scoreless inning, including a strike out of Brandon Belt. His pitches ranged in the low 50s to the low 80s and he seemed to gain some control as the inning went on. Hopefully however Clint Hurdle will not have to use him again any time soon.

Throwaways

• A quick glance at the score from Tuesday’s game tells you that the pitching was not good at all for the Pirates. Starter Wilfredo Boscan pitched well for three innings, but was removed in the fourth after being tagged for seven runs. The bullpen surrender the additional eight runs, putting the Pirates in a hole that they would stay in for the rest of the night.
• Andrew McCutchen struck out in all three of his at-bats, lowering his slash line to .238/.316/.403 on the season. With the team struggling to score runs as of late, McCutchen needs to start producing in the coming games, or the Pirates should seriously consider putting a more productive player in the third spot in the lineup.

W – Johnny Cueto (11-1)

L – Wilfredo Boscan (0-1)

Line of the Night

Tonight we’ll focus on Kratz, the most unlikely player to have a shutout inning for the Pirates.

Hurdle elected to use a position player for the ninth since the team was losing by so many runs, and he landed on Kratz. Kratz pitched a scoreless inning of relief, allowing two hits and no runs while also striking out Belt. He also threw more than half of his pitches for strikes, so perhaps he could be an option for the team’s struggling bullpen (I’m kidding, of course. Kind of).

Up Next

The series continues on Wednesday at 7:05pm when Jeff Samardzija (8-4, 3.14) and Francisco Liriano (4-7, 5.03) face off. Samardzjia, one of the top pitchers on the free agent market last winter, is coming off of a complete game win against the Tampa Bay Rays. Liriano on the other hand has lost his last four decisions and in general has not performed as expected this season.