In our daily Wake-Up Call, we get you ready for the day with a complete look at all things Pittsburgh Pirates
Early action not indicator of things to come
Anyone who only caught the first inning of the Pirates vs. Cubs first of 19 games this season last night was probably pretty pleased. For all of the talk early of Jason Hammel‘s pitching d0minance (3-0 going into the contest, Andrew McCutchen rang him up early with a home run into right field, giving the Pirates the early lead in the first rematch for the teams since the Pirates’ crushing defeat in the wildcard game last season. That was one of only a few bright spots for the team in the drizzly outing, with the Cubbies handing the team a 7-2 loss in a not-so-stellar performance by the home team.
Cole ain’t the ace
When the cancellation of the last game in Colorado last week pushed starting pitchers a game ahead, many of us breathed a sigh of relief that Gerrit Cole would not start against the Reds – a team against which he is historically bad – and instead would go up against Hammel. Cole’s lifetime record against the Cubs going into the game was 7-1 in nine starts and his early shakiness in the season was chalked up to just that after a solid outing in San Diego and while not an ace effort, a decent showing in Colorado. But last night – he was not the ace the Pirates need to beat this Chicago Cubs team.
He gave up six runs, five earned, in 4 2/3 innings, walking four batters and striking out six in 105 pitches before Clint Hurdle mercifully yanked him off the mound. The frustration was visible in the 25 year-old throughout the game and afterward in the dugout as his record slipped to 2-3 for the season.
Cole wasn’t the only disappointment in the game – Josh Harrison continued to emulate Pedro Alvarez, committing a throwing error in the fifth and a caught stealing error in the fifth, and overall, this Pirates team just didn’t look crisp. One bright spot is the continued spot-on performance by Jordy Mercer at the plate – who went 3 for 3 on the night.
Hockey at the PNC
Even though the Penguins were playing at Consol last night, it felt like a little of that hockey mentality seeped into the Pirates vs. Cubs game last night. It started with what felt like an honest issue for a pitcher having a bad night – with Gerrit Cole hitting Addison Russell with a pitch in the top of the fifth. Then in the bottom of the sixth, Hammel plunked Starling Marte in the hand – where he was hit by a pitch in Sunday’s game as well. Kyle Lobstein, who took over for AJ Schugel in the sixth, beaned Ben Zobrist in the first pitch in the top of the seventh – causing the always classy Cubs Manager Joe Maddon to share some choice words with the reliever, who innocently asked from the mound, “Who me?” as the curse words flew. Pirates fans had collective flashbacks to last year’s bench-clearing episodes during the 2015 Wildcard Game and the Gatorade cooler in the Pirates dugout visibly shook.
Yesterday’s Player of the Game
After each game, the staff at Pirates Breakdown will go to twitter to let the people be heard. We’ll ask you who you think should be deemed the Pirates player who had the most impact on the game as a whole – win or lose. Here now is yesterday’s result:
Who is the #Pirates player of the game?
— Jason Rollison (@jrollisonpgh) May 3, 2016
Make sure to watch for this poll on our twitter feed after each game.
Baseball talk from around the web
- The Mets’ Bartolo Colon earned his 220 win Monday against the Braves , overtaking Pedro Martinez as the second winningest Dominican-born pitcher in baseball.
- Former Bucco Russell Martin, who is battling neck spasms, continues to struggle at the plate for the Toronto Blue Jays with a scary slash line of .141/.211/.156. He shaved his beard for the first time in a season, but it didn’t seem to help last night. As a whole, the defending AL East Champs are experiencing early offensive woes.
- And in non-baseball, baseball news, Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander finally put a ring on it, proposing to long-time girlfriend and model Kate Upton, who debuted her baseball-sized diamond at the Met Gala last night.
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