In our daily Wake-Up Call, we get you ready for the baseball day with a complete look at all things Pittsburgh Pirates.
Bad Time for a Losing Streak
Last night the Pittsburgh Pirates lost their 3-1 to the Houston Astros, it was their fourth straight loss. The Pirates offense couldn’t muster much of anything against Doug Fister. He pretty much kept the Pirates off-balance all night. He went seven innings, allowed zero runs on three hits with six strikeouts.
The Pirates picked a pretty bad time for a four-game losing streak. They went from one game out of the second wild-card spot to 3.5 back. This poor streak also killed pretty much all the momentum the team gained from their excellent west coast road trip. The Pirates really need to bounce back quickly or they soon could find themselves pretty much out of realistic contention.
Another Dominant Performance
The biggest positive from last night was the pitching performance of Jameson Taillon. Taillon went eight innings, allowed two runs on four hits and struck out eight. Taillon has been as good as advertised during his time in the big leagues. His 2.92ERA and 3.38FIP are tremendous for any rookie pitcher, much less one that has missed most of the previous two seasons.
Taillon was pretty much the definition of a hard luck loser as one poor inning cost him the game. In the fifth inning, he allowed a lead-off walk and a two-run home run. Which unfortunately proved to be the difference in the game. It’s hard to put any of the blame on Taillon as the offense pretty much failed to show up. This game is another example of why the win/loss record is a poor stat to judge the worth of a starting pitcher.
Mr. Freese
The biggest piece of news from yesterday was the Pirates announcing they signed infielder David Freese to a two-year, $11 million extension with a team option for 2019.
Freese signed a one-year deal one week into spring training and has been a fantastic addition to the team. In his first year with the Pirates, he’s hitting .276/.357/.436/.793 with 12 home runs and 49 RBIs. Freese has fit in well with the Pirates and cited the team’s potential for winning this year and for years to come as a reason for signing the deal.
It’s hard not to think this is what Neal Huntington meant when he said the team had “financial flexibility” following the Francisco Liriano trade. 2016 is certainly the year of the extension for the Pirates. Freese joins Francisco Cervelli, Chris Stewart and Gregory Polanco in the extension club. The Pirates are certainly securing their future in both the short and long term.
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