It was exactly one week ago that we were all giddy that the Pirates had finally winnowed their NL Central deficit down to four games. The Pirates have lost five of six since then, and are now seven games behind the Cardinals. The grand effect of these losses is that much of the ground they made up on the Cardinals by winning 21 of 25 has been wiped away (they had made up a total of 5 1/2 games depending on your end point creativity, that’s back down to 2 1/2 now). Last night was particularly depressing as it combined a below average Gerrit Cole start, bad defense, and a bad strike zone with the Reds knocking down the door at every opportunity.
With the bullpen stretched out and the rotation struggling and the losses piling up, what the Pirates need is for their grizzled veteran starter to step up and deliver them a strong start and a series win tonight. Burnett’s last start against the Nationals was not great, but I suppose we could say it was commendable that he found a way to hold the Nationals to three runs in six innings while allowing 14 hits. It was commendable or lucky, at least. Or maybe it was the 14 hits that were unlucky given that he struck out seven and walked one and his stuff looked mostly good. Sometimes sabermetrics is hard.
Anyway, Burnett and DiSclafani at 7:05. The Pirates need a win in the way that you say then need a win when you mean that you’d feel a lot better about them if they won this game even though it’s definitely not a “must-win” sort of game.
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