In our daily Wake-Up Call, we get you ready for the baseball day with a complete look at all things Pittsburgh Pirates.
Cutch: 3 – Brewers: 2
Last night the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Milwaukee Brewers 3-2 in extra innings. Andrew McCutchen was the Pirates’ offense as he drove in all three runs. It was a good effort overall for not only the team but for McCutchen specifically.
The at-bats for McCutchen were very impressive as he didn’t try to do too much. He just took pitches and pushed them the other way for two of his three RBIs. He also showed a little bit of the power he still has in the first inning when hit a solo home run. Obviously, we can’t say McCutchen is back but he has certainly has been better in August. He has slashed .303/.425/.485/.910 for the month. Those numbers are definitely closer to the McCutchen we watched from 2012-2015.
McCutchen was the fairly obvious choice for our player of the game poll as he easily took home the award:
#RaiseIt The Pirates defeat the Brewers 3-2 in 10 innings. Who is your player of the game?
— Jason Rollison (@jrollisonpgh) August 26, 2016
Kuhl Party
If not for Andrew McCutchen, Chad Kuhl would have been the MVP of last night’s game. Kuhl was very good for 6.1 innings as he allowed two runs on five hits and struck out five. The righty pitched well enough for the win, but unfortunately, he allowed a double to Chris Carter, followed by a home run by Kirk Nieuwenhuis. He may not have earned the win, but thee’s no doubt that he played a huge role in last night’s victory.
Kuhl has been a revelation for the Pirates. He’s been a tremendous backend of the rotation starter and it seems like all he does is keep the team in games. For most of the season, poor pitching buried the Pirates. It is wonderful to finally see them getting consistent performances from a bulk of the rotation.
Thou SHALT Steal?
Andrew McCutchen stole the show offensively for the Pirates but a fellow outfielder did steal a little bit of the thunder. Starling Marte went 1-5 on the night but he stole two bases, his 42nd and 43rd of the season. Marte looks like a near lock to be the first Pirates player with 50 steals since Tony Womack in 1998.
The stolen base isn’t as prevalent as it was in Rickey Henderson‘s day but it still a valuable weapon. The power hasn’t shown up for Marte this season, so it’s good to see him be more aggressive on the basepaths. Marte has already set a career high for stolen bases, so 50 is really the only milestone left to achieve for the speedy outfielder.
Baseball Talk on the Web
8 High-Priced Non-Tender Candidates
MLB’s Hit-Tracking Tool Misses A Lot Of Hits
Three MLB stadiums to host World Baseball Classic games in 2017
Thanks for checking us out here at Pirates Breakdown. Please make sure to follow us on Twitter and Instagram and like us on Facebook for the best Pirates coverage all year long!
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
