Pittsburgh Pirates Takeaways & Throwaways – Happy homecoming for Vogelsong

The Pittsburgh Pirates defeated the San Francisco Giants 8-5 in the first game of a three-game series at AT&T Park. Here are the takeaways and throwaways from the  contest.

Takeaways

• A Happy Homecoming for Vogelsong- Starting pitcher Ryan Vogelsong has spent his entire Major League career with two organizations, the Pittsburgh Pirates and San Francisco Giants. The latter of which he played for the last five seasons and won two World Series Championships with the Giants. On an evening in which the veteran starter was honored with a pre-game video tribute, he ultimately got the best of his former squad squeaking out 5 and 2/3 innings of work giving out nine hits and four earned runs in his third game back from the disabled list. The veteran of the staff continued to be a leader for the young rotation and was pitching decently until two home runs in the sixth inning served as his demise.
• Late Night Coffee- Gregory Polanco continued his breakout season by driving in four runs on two hits, one of which was a line drive over the right field wall. The lefty is currently hitting .277 on the season for Clint Hurdle‘s Pirates.
• The Glove of Eduardo Nunez– Yes, Nunez is a Giant. Yes, Nunez hit a home run off Vogelsong tonight. Prior to the home run though, Nunez made spectacular plays with his glove in the fifth and sixth innings to limit the damage for the Giants. The spectacular defensive effort is always awesome to see no matter what team the fielder plays on.

Throwaways

• Pitchers getting through six innings- Vogelsong kept the Giants at bay until the very end, yielding two home runs which led to the starter getting yanked to a standing ovation by the fans in attendance. Vogelsong did just enough to keep the Giants off-balance, but for an already taxed bullpen, the Pirates need their starters to go deeper into the game.
• Leaving Runners on Base-The sun rises in the east, sets in the west, and the Pirates leave as many runners as possible on the bases. Well, at least it seems that way. The Pirates’ total Monday night was at 14 . Key contributors to the LOB cause were Harrison with three, and Freese, Kang, Cervelli, and Polanco all with two a piece. While the Pirates were able to make the most of a majority of their guys on base, continuing to leave runners on could be troublesome down the stretch.

W – Ryan Vogelsong (2-2)

L – Matt Moore (7-9)

Line of the Night

Tonight we will focus on the line up Clint Hurdle drew up for the Pirates this evening.

Each starting hitter for the Pirates got a hit against the Giants. What made this lineup different, is the make-up of it. Leading off was Josh Harrison followed by Jordy Mercer and Andrew McCutchen to fill out the first three spots in the order. Following McCutchen was David Freese who started at first base, Starling Marte, and Jung Ho Kang to round out the meat of the order. While nothing stands out particularly about those six players and where they are at in the lineup, the next two hitters were Francisco Cervelli and Gregory Polanco, who’s having a breakout season for the Pirates.

Polanco, who has hit in each spot of the lineup or so it seems, drove in four RBIs and hit a line-drive home run to right field from the eight-spot in the order. Freese, McCutchen, Marte also contributed to the hit parade with two hits a piece while McCutchen also joined Polanco with multiple RBIs (2) as the struggling centerfielder continues to grind out of his slump.

The sweet swinging of the Pirates this evening bodes well as this is a pivotal series to keep the Pirates in the pennant chase for the National League and Wild Card.

Up Next

The Pirates are back in action Tuesday night for a 10:15PM game against the Giants. On the mound for the visiting Pirates will be Jameson Taillon (3-2. 2.85 ERA) while former nemesis Jeff Samardzija will be on the rubber for the home Giants. Samardzija is 10-8 with a 4.23 ERA in his first season in San Francisco.