Last night’s loss was discouraging for the Pirates for a few reasons. Not only did the game turn on relatively few plays that could’ve bounced the Pirates way, but a win in a pretty lopsided pitching matchup would’ve been a great way for the Pirates to open this series. Obviously it didn’t work out that way.
This leaves the Pirates in this position: they have three games against the Cardinals between now and the All-Star Break. Dispensing of all “it’s too early to say anything for sure” niceties, the Pirates probably need to win one of these games. Going a step further, I’d feel a lot better about a lot of things if they win two of these three. If they win all three, you’re going to spend the whole All-Star Break hearing about how the Pirates have been baseball’s best team for much of the first half and how they’re bearing down on the Cardinals hard and how maybe this is the year the Bucs finally turn the tables on them. I prefer that third option by a pretty wide margin, but I suppose I’ll survive so long as the Pirates can avoid being swept.
The good news is that Gerrit Cole, AJ Burnett, and Francisco Liriano will start these three games. For much of the first half, these three have been the sort of trio that you can imagine carrying a team through a succession of best-of-seven playoff series, should they be given the opportunity. It’s that pitching staff that’s gotten the Pirates this far, and so it’s fitting that I think it’ll have to be the pitching staff that draws them closer this weekend.
Gerrit Cole starts tonight. This is almost certainly his biggest start since Game 5 of the 2013 NLDS, which we don’t need to discuss at any length greater than that. Cole has been up-and-down some of late, nicely exemplified by his start on Sunday in which he spotted the Indians a 3-0 lead, then blew their doors off over his last five innings on the mound. Cole always seems to rise to the occasion (you may recall that he turned in an excellent start against the Reds on the last day of the 2014 year with a sliver of hope that he could win the Pirates the division, but Johnny Cueto was just as good and the bullpen was not up to the task from that point), and I’m both interested and excited to see him start in this game tonight. He’ll face Lance Lynn, who is having an excellent season, but who I anecdotally feel like the Pirates always manage to get to at some point almost every time they see him. I do say that will full knowledge that Travis Ishikawa is starting in the outfield tonight, so let’s just say that Cole is going to have to be good.
Anyway, a win tonight will make me feel a lot better about a lot of things. First pitch is at 7:05.
Photo by Jared Wickerham/Getty Images
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