Pittsburgh Pirates Takeaways & Throwaways- Kang homer pushes Pirates over the Giants

The Pittsburgh Pirates defeated the San Francisco Giants 4-3 in the second game of a three-game series at AT&T Park. Here are the takeaways and throwaways from the  contest.

Takeaways

• Staying aggressive on the base paths- The Pirates continued their aggressive approach on the base paths swiping two bases against the battery of Jeff Samardzija and Buster Posey. Starling Marte stole second in the first inning after singling, his 41st steal of the season, tying a career-high in stolen bases. Josh Harrison swiped second base in the fifth inning, his 16th steal in 18 attempts on the season. Posey would throw out Andrew McCutchen in the top of the eighth inning.
• The reemergence of McCutchen- Since being benched for the Atlanta series at the beginning of the month, McCutchen has reached base in all 11 games following the benching. Tonight, McCutchen continued to reemerge as the player fans love to watch with a triple off the base of the wall in right-centerfield. The triple was his second on the season and first since May 17th. The centerfielder finished with two hits, a walk and a run scored.
• A new member of the #PitchersWhoRakeClub- The newest edition to the #PitchersWhoRakeClub would be Taillon who tallied his first Major League hit in the fifth inning. Taillon’s hit was a marvelous piece of hitting for the rookie pitcher as he inside outed a Samardzija fastball through the right side of the infield.

Throwaways

• Botched bunts- With zero outs and runners on first and second in the second inning, Taillon stepped to the plate. Taillon worked the count to a ball and two strikes before squaring around to bunt. The bunt attempt seemed to hit behind the plate, however, it went unseen by the home plate umpire and wound up a double play with John Jaso getting out at third and Taillon being thrown out at second.
• First inning woes-In five of Taillon’s 11 Major League starts, the rookie has given up runs in the first inning. This evening was no different with Taillon giving up two of the three runs he allowed in the home half of the first this evening.

W – Antonio Bastardo (1-0)

L – Derek Law (4-2)

S – Tony Watson (6)

Line of the Night

Tonight we will focus on the start of pitcher Jameson Taillon.

Following a first inning in which he gave up two runs, Taillon dominated Giants hitters for the better part of the six innings the rookie threw Tuesday evening. The rookie right-hander gave up six hits and three runs on the evening with only Posey getting multiple hits off Taillon. Taillon struck out the side in the second inning and only allowed two total baserunners between the end of the first and end of the fifth inning.

Taillon succumbed to the second of Posey’s two hits in the sixth inning, a single to right field. Posey would move to third on a Brandon Crawford double and would eventually score the game-tying run on a Hunter Pence ground-out before escaping the jam.

The final line on Taillon went six innings, six hits, three earned runs, a walk, and six strikeouts in the rookie’s 11th start with the Pirates this season. It was Taillon’s fifth quality start in a row.

Up Next

The Pirates take on the Giants searching for a series sweep in a mid-day matinee Wednesday afternoon at 3:45PM. On the bump for the Pittsburgh will be Ivan Nova who brings a 9-6 record and 4.68 ERA into the match-up against San Francisco. The Giants will be led by Matt Cain who is 4-7 on the season with a 5.47 ERA.