Pittsburgh Pirates Takeaways & Throwaways – Three in a Row

The Pittsburgh Pirates took the third game of the series against the Los Angeles Dodgers with a 4-3 win, handing Clayton Kershaw just his second loss of the season. Here are the takeaways and throwaways from the win as the Pirates go for the sweep on Monday.

Takeaways

• Usually if a team scores four runs against a starting pitcher, it’s not headline news. But on Sunday the Pirates scored four runs off of Clayton Kershaw in the second inning. This is only the second time this season that Kershaw has surrendered four or more runs, so that shows just how tough he has been in 2016. Now that the Pirates are winding down an incredibly difficult string of starting pitching from their opponents, perhaps they can make a serious run at getting back into the playoff discussion.
• After Jordy Mercer was injured and removed from the game, Clint Hurdle needed a few of his bench players to enter the game earlier than expected. Adam Frazier, recently promoted from Indianapolis, took over in right field. He collected two more hits and his first RBI, so he is certainly taking advantage of his playing time and could get an extended look if his bat stays this hot.

Throwaways

• The Pittsburgh dugout was not happy with many of the calls home plate umpire Chris Conroy made on Sunday. Joc Peterson had two at bats where it appeared that he checked his swing yet was not called for a strike. Many of the hitters were not happy with the low strike calls the Dodgers seemed to be getting all night, and it culminated with Andrew McCutchen getting ejected from the game after tossing his bat down in disgust.
• While Kuhl did go on to win his first start, he was not very sharp in his debut. In the five innings that he pitched, he needed 82 pitches to go to that point. This also resulted in four walks, but he was able to get timely outs when he needed them. He certainly did not have a bad outing, but he’ll need to limit the walks in his next start. Those extra base runners could have easily turned into more runs if the Dodgers were able to get some well timed hits.

W – Chad Kuhl (1-0)

L – Clayton Kershaw (11-2)

S – Mark Melancon (22)

Line of the Night

Since it was his first MLB start, today’s Line of the Night goes to Chad Kuhl.

Kuhl went five innings and left the game with the lead, having limited the Dodgers to just three runs. He was a little wild at times, elevating his pitch count early which resulted in four walks. But considering it was his first start, he did a good job. If the team sticks with Kuhl and this order for the rotation, his next start will come in Oakland against the Athletics on Sunday, July 2nd.

Up Next

The four game series wraps up on Monday at 12:35pm, the only day game on the schedule for Major League Baseball. Scott Kazmir (5-3, 4.52) will take the ball for the Dodgers and limited the Washington Nationals to just two runs over six innings his last time out but did not factor into the decision. The Pirates will send Francisco Liriano (4-7, 5.17) to the mound, who has not won since May 24th. Liriano’s control has been an issue this season, as he has walked 49 hitters in just 78.1 innings so far in 2016.