Takeaways & Throwaways – Cole shines in Pittsburgh Pirates big victory in Milwaukee

The Pittsburgh Pirates piled the runs on in the seventh inning to defeat the Milwaukee Brewers 8-1 on Monday night.

Welcome to Takeaways & Throwaways. Shortly after every Pittsburgh Pirates game, come to Pirates Breakdown to see our flash recap format. We’ll tell you everything you need to know about the game, without making you read the same boring recap you can see anywhere else.

Sponsored By

Click the banner to learn about the coolest shades around!

FINAL:  Pittsburgh Pirates 8, Milwaukee Brewers 1

W – Gerrit Cole (5-6, 4.28)   L –  Matt Garza (3-3, 4.42)

Takeaways

• Monday’s star was by far Cole, who limited the NL Central leading Brewers to just one home run and two singles over seven innings. He issued two walks and struck out five, including one to end the seventh inning and also his night. This start was almost identical to what he did the last time out, when he limited the Colorado Rockies to one run on three hits over seven innings. In that game, he walked three and struck out three, so at least Monday’s start saw a slight improvement in those statistics.
• Andrew McCutchen continues to shine in the sixth spot of the lineup as he poked his team leading 13th home run, a two run shot, over the right field wall to extend the lead for the Pirates in the sixth inning. He followed that home run up with a run scoring single in the next frame and pushed his slash line to .260/.333/.476. With a stretch of games against division foes this week, this would be a great time for McCutchen to really heat up at the plate.
• McCutchen’s hit was just one of many in the seventh inning, which saw the Pirates plate a total of four runs to pad their lead late in the game. Josh Harrison started the scoring with a double that brought in Cole. Gregory Polanco scored two with single and advanced to second when Hernan Perez tripped and fell in left field. Francisco Cervelli grounded into a double play after McCutchen singled in Polanco, but at that point the Pirates had more than enough runs to take the first game of the series.

Throwaways

• While Cole was fantastic on Monday and only gave up three hits, unfortunately one of them left the yard. Travis Shaw‘s long ball in the second inning was the 16th that Cole has allowed so far this season, an average of a little more than one per start. So while this start was fairly dominating, the only real blemish on his line was Shaw’s blast.
• All of the Pittsburgh starters collected at least one hit in the big victory, except for Josh Bell. The first baseman was hitless in five trips to the plate, including two strikeouts. His slash line dropped to .231/.314/.453 and he has just one hit in his last 11 at-bats, so hopefully he heats up again soon.

Line Of the Night

It should be a surprise to no one that Cole would be featured here. He threw seven dominating innings against the division leading Brewers and allowed just three hits. He walked two and struck out five in the outing that dropped his season ERA to 4.28. Particularly impressive was the way Cole closed out his appearance, as he was able to get the Brewers in order and ended the appearance by blowing the final strike by Keon Broxton. His next scheduled start is Saturday against the St. Louis Cardinals at 7:15pm.

Vote in our Player of the Game Poll

After each game, win or lose, Pirates Breakdown will ask YOU for your Pittsburgh Pirates player of the game. Hop over to our twitter to cast your vote!

The Pittsburgh Pirates took the first game in Milwaukee with a big 8-1 win. Who is your Player of the Game?

— Jason Rollison (@jrollisonpgh) June 20, 2017

Up Next

The series in Milwaukee continues on Tuesday at 7:40pm when Chad Kuhl (1-6, 5.61) toes the rubber against Zach Davies (7-3, 4.91). Kuhl has had a rough season so far as he has not pitched six innings since April 18th. He took the loss his last time out when he went five innings and gave up three runs against the Colorado Rockies. Davies most recently did not factor into the decision against the St. Louis Cardinals on June 15th when he allowed four runs on nine hits over five innings.