Pittsburgh Pirates Takeaways & Throwaways – Win the Game, Lose Glasnow?

The Pittsburgh Pirates put together a five run fifth inning on their way to a 7-4 victory over the Phillies on Saturday. Here are the takeaways and throwaways from Tyler Glasnow‘s second career MLB start.

Takeaways

• The Pirates had a big inning in the fifth, plating five runs off of three singles, two walks, a hit by pitch and a sacrifice fly. Gregory Polanco and David Freese both drove in two runs in the inning that gave the Pirates the lead. This outburst was a welcoming site given that the team was blanked the previous night.
• Speaking of Freese, his two RBIs now tie his total for second on the team. Freese continues to show that he is one of the most valuable signings this offseason, especially considering his modest salary for 2016. He has also shown a remarkable ability at hitting balls to right field, and that is how he scored the two runs in the fifth.

Throwaways

• All eyes were on Tyler Glasnow as he made just the second start of his career and first at PNC Park, and it did not go as planned. He pitched into the fourth inning but left after facing two batters because of right shoulder discomfort. If we take the team tat its word, this could be a serious and far-reaching development. He struggled with command the entire game, throwing 78 pitches and just over half of those went for strikes. Besides issuing three walks he also hit Cameron Rupp (head) and Aaron Nola (hand). There were moments where everything was working for Glasnow, but they did not last very long. Management has been noncommittal regarding Glasnow going forward, and even if the injury is not serious this start showed that he still has room to improve.
• Glasnow and Francisco Cervelli could not stop the Phillies from stealing bases on Saturday. Cesar Hernandez and Obudel Herrera each stole two while Freddy Galvis also nabbed a base. Glasnow will need to work on limiting the running game of his opponents, because teams are going to keep running on him until he shows that he can stop it.
• In the seventh inning Jimmy Paredes hit a very routine fly ball to Starling Marte in left field. Marte appeared to close his eyes at the last second let the ball come out of his glove. Neftali Feliz was able to get the next hitter to fly out to right field. While the error did not result in a run, it very well could have proved to be costly. Fortunately this time, the pitcher was able to cover the fielder’s mistake.

W – Juan Nicasio (8-6)

L – Aaron Nola (5-9)

S – Mark Melancon (29)

Line of the Night

Today we will focus on Tyler Glasnow’s line, which was not pretty.

Glasnow pitched into the fourth inning, giving up two runs (one earned) on four hits and three walks while striking out two. Besides the high pitch count, Glasnow had other problems. His command was shaky and the Phillies ran wild on the base paths. The team has not announced if he’ll get another start in five days, and his injury could definitely affect that as well.

Up Next

The weekend of young and exciting pitchers continues for the Pirates on Sunday at 1:35pm. Jameson Taillon (2-1, 3.44) will make the seventh start of his career and face Vince Velasquez (8-2, 3.15). Taillon most recently limited the Milwaukee Brewers to one run over six innings on July 19th, and did not issue a walk for the second consecutive start. Velasquez has been very good as of late, only allowing five runs in his last 24 innings of work. So runs could be hard to come by for the Pirates against the talented starter for the Phillies.