Upon a bit more reflection, I’d say that the Pirates’ weekend debacle in DC was probably more of a wake up call than anything. Building an eight-game winning streak is no easy task, even if it comes on the backs of the Brewers, Phillies, and White Sox, but it doesn’t mean the National League elites are just going to roll over and play dead for you. The National League is stacked at the top this year, and the Pirates would like to be part of that conversation. It seemed like maybe they had played their way into that conversation, but being dismantled by the Nats says that maybe they haven’t.
The only thing to do now is to move on. The Pirates are back home. The Pirates are playing a mess of a Cincinnati Reds team that is riddled with injuries and has the players more or less openly questioning the manager. There is only one way to erase the doubts and bad taste left behind by a 19-4 three-game drubbing that includes a no-hitter. It is a universally effective solution. The solution is this: win some dang baseball games.
Jeff Locke starts for the Pirates tonight. Staring a series with a Jeff Locke win is about the best way possible for the Pirates to start a series. Johnny Cueto will not start for the Reds tonight, for reasons that are clear to Bryan Price and maybe Walt Jocketty but not to Johnny Cueto. In his place, they will give Josh Smith his big league debut. This is what I know about Josh Smith: he is right-handed. The Pirates have faced quite a few pitchers very early in their big league careers lately. Things went poorly against Taylor Jungmann and Joe Ross, but quite well against Carlos Rodon. Fingers crossed they even the columns tonight.
First pitch is at 7:05.
Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images
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