Pittsburgh Pirates Takeaways and Throwaways – All Hands on Deck

Pittsburgh Pirates Win the First of Three Against the Rockies at PNC

The Pittsburgh Pirates took the first of a three-game series against the Colorado Rockies tonight in a tight 2-1 game that required the input of everyone on the field. They’ve won five of their last six and remain 6.5 games back from the Cubs, who take on the Giants at 10:15 tonight.

Takeaways

• “Johnny on the Spot” Jaso (credit to Pirates Broadcaster Greg Brown for the apropos nickname) – although his first part of May was significantly cooler than his hot April start, first baseman John Jaso is rearing back to life and in a big way. The dreaded one had himself a game at PNC tonight, going two for four with one run and two hits. Defensively he was on fire – catching two blistering LeMahieu hits in the second and seventh and expertly throwing Nolan Arenado out at home in the fourth.
• Marte’s Defense – First, he fires a blast from left field on a Charlie Blackmon hit in the top of the seventh to get Dustin Garneau out at home and preserve the Pirates’ one run lead. Then, the catches a liner by Blackmon in the ninth to secure the final out and notch in the W for Cole and the team.

Throwaways

• Stranding runners on base. Haven’t we been here before? The Pirates stranded six on base tonight, making for an exciting game, but perhaps a little too close for comfort.
• Cole didn’t have his best start this season. Or even his second best. He went seven innings for the Bucs (109 pitches) with one walk, 10 hits, one run, one walk, and gave up a home run to Nolan Arenado in the sixth. While his bat was working, he had runners on the corners in the first, loaded the bases in the fourth with one out and got lucky in the first and second innings when batters lined into inning-ending double plays. He saw only four swings and misses on the night and didn’t strike anyone out. Cole made history tonight – he’s the only the 14th man this century to allow 10 or more hits in a start, not strike out a batter and still get a win (credit Joe Block, Pittsburgh Pirates, for the stat).

Line of the Night

Even though he got the L – the line of the night goes to Rockies pitcher Eddie Butler. He threw six innings, gave up seven hits, three runs and struck out one. He had 55 strikes out of 76 pitches and walked none.
W– Gerrit Cole (5-3)
L– Eddie Butler (2-2)
S– Mark Melancon (14)

Next up

In what promises to be a soggy match tomorrow, The Pirates’ Jonathon Niese (4-2) takes on the Rockies’ Tyler Chatwood (5-3) – who has the best ERA on the road in MLB this season, at 4:05 pm.

Pirates Breakdown offers our sincere condolences to pitcher Gerrit Cole, who lost his beloved Grandmother Esther earlier this week.