In our daily Wake-Up Call, we get you ready for the day with a complete look at all things Pittsburgh Pirates.
The Pittsburgh Pirates made things interesting last night, but still managed to start an easier part of their schedule on a good note with a 3-2 win over the Brewers. Mark Melancon blew his second consecutive save opportunity, but still got the win after Josh Harrison hit a Little League home run in the bottom of the ninth to save us from another extra inning affair.
The ninth inning will be the focal point of the game, and for good reason: it was the most exciting, stressful inning of the night. Melancon looked shaky from the jump, putting two on without recording an out. Then, when he was one strike away from shutting the door, Melancon allowed a hit and the game was tied. Luckily an errant throw by the Brewers in the bottom of the ninth allowed Harrison to turn a triple into a a run.
But there was more from the game that was worth taking away. On a positive note, Jameson Taillon had a fantastic start, especially considering he was hit in the head early in the game on a liner back up the middle. He stayed in the game, and probably could have pitched past the sixth. He only had 65 pitches after six, but the hit to the head, coupled with the Pirates trying to limit Taillon’s pitch count, led the Pirates to go to the bullpen early with the lead.
On a negative note, the Pirates had a chance to build upon their one-run lead, but couldn’t get the job done. Jordy Mercer tripled to lead off the seventh, but the Pirates couldn’t bring him home. Then, the Pirates got men on first and second with no outs in the eighth, and couldn’t score again. The failure to score these runs almost came back to bite them.
Andrew McCutchen came back from his 0-8 game with a single and a walk last night as he slowly continues his quality month of July. If you take out the 0-8 performance on Sunday, McCutchen is batting .326 in July. I’m going to go out on a limb and say the 0-8 was the outlier and that McCutchen is finally turning it around.
Yesterday’s Player of the Game
#RaiseIt The Pirates defeat the Milwaukee Brewers 3-2! Who is your Pirates player of the game?
— Jason Rollison (@jrollisonpgh) July 20, 2016
Baseball Talk from Around the Web
- As ESPN does it’s all-time top 10 lists for every position in MLB history, Jerry Crasnick gave his top 10 players of all time, and two former Pirates made his list.
- Dieter Kurtenbach of Fox Sports lists nine players that should be traded at the deadline this season but probably won’t; a few would look good in a Pirates uniform…
- Zachary Rymer of Bleacher Report breaks down why so many rookie pitchers are struggling this season, including Tyler Glasnow.
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