Pittsburgh Pirates Takeaways and Throwaways – Just Another Manic Monday

Pittsburgh Pirates Take The Final Game (and Series Win) Versus the Rockies 6-3 in Dramatic Fashion

Not without some drama in the ninth, the Pirates took the last game and series from the Colorado Rockies during a make-up afternoon game at PNC Park today 6-3. The game turned manic in the second when Ryan Vogelsong, making a rare start for the Pirates, was struck in the face by a pitch – and then a umpire left the game injured in the third.

Takeaways

• Winning one for Voggy – watching a teammate, and friend, go out the way Ryan Vogelsong did in the bottom of the second is a powerful motivator. The Pirates went to work to make sure their teammate knew he was in their hearts and minds – racking up six runs off seven hits and staying in control of the game throughout. Andrew McCutchen, Gregory Polanco, Starling Marte, David Freese, Josh Harrison, Francisco Cervelli and Wilfredo Boscan all got in on the action.
• Stolen bases – the Buccos have gotten more aggressive on base stealing as the season has progressed with Marte, who leads the teams with 13, Polanco and Harrison all taking one today. Although, it should be four bags if not for a bad call on Josh Harrison’s second attempt in the bottom of the fifth.

Throwaways

• Injuries plagued this game – First came the horrific pitch to the face of Ryan Vogelsong by Rockies starting pitcher Jordan Lyles. The ball appears to hit him just below the eye in the cheekbone area – and he went down, hard. After being treated by Pirates trainer Todd Tomczyk on the field, Vogelsong was carted off and loaded directly into the always awaiting ambulance on field level and taken to a local hospital for evaluation. The second injury occurred in the bottom of third when Home Base Umpire Jeff Nelson got dirt in his eye during a slide home by Cervelli and had to leave the game.
• Because player reps for both teams could not come up with a mutually agreeable date to make up he rained out game Sunday, MLB intervened and mandated it be played today (the teams already have another make-up game on the books for June after their game Sunday, April 22 game in Colorado was called due to weather). This puts the Pirates on a 17-game stretch before their next regularly scheduled off-day on June 9. That’s coming off of a 10-game stretch that saw them prepping for a game yesterday and playing one inning – meaning they didn’t exactly get a full rest day at all. Seven of those next 17 are on the road.

W – Wilfredo Boscan (1-0)

L – Jordan Lyles (1-3)

S – Melancon (15)

Line of the Day

Wilfredo Boscan entered the game in the third, taking over long relief duties following Vogelsong’s injury. He pitched four innings, gave up two runs, walked one and struck out two. His only real shaky inning was the fifth, when he gave up the two runs, balked and threw five balls. But he recovered with a 1,2,3 inning in the sixth. He also notched up a base hit in his first MLB at-bat and netted his first RBI. It’s important to note that this was just his second appearance in the majors.

Next Up

The Pirates meet the Diamondbacks for a three-game series at PNC starting Monday at 7:05 pm. Expected match-ups are the Francisco Liriano (3-3) versus Shelby Miller (1-5) on Tuesday; Jeff Locke (2-3) against Rubby De La Rosa (4-4) on Wednesday (7:05 start) and Gerrit Cole (5-3) takes on Patrick Corbin (2-3) at 12:35 pm Thursday in the final game of the series.