The Pittsburgh Pirates did not play well on their last road trip. They lost both series and went 2-5. They returned home looking to bounce back against a Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim team that is still struggling to finds its identity.
Game one featured two pitchers currently in a massive funk and trying to find their games as Francisco Liriano took on Jered Weaver
Game One: Francisco Liriano (4-4, 4.63ERA) vs. Jered Weaver 4-4, 5.40ERA)
Result: Pirates lose 9-2
Winning Pitcher: Jered Weaver (5-4, 5.18ERA)
Losing Pitcher: Francisco Liriano (4-5, 5.25ERA)
- What went right:
- Starling Marte had himself a game as he went 3-4 with a home run, a RBI and a run scored.
- Jung Ho Kang was the other bright spot for the Pirates. He also homered and finished 2-4 with one RBI and a run scored.
- Gregory Polanco went 1-3 with a walk.
- Rob Scahill did a great job in relief and really helped save the bullpen. He went 2.1 innings, allowed zero runs on one hit and two walks.
- What went wrong:
- Francisco Liriano was pretty terrible from the start. He fell behind nearly every batter and ended up going only 3.1 innings, allowed seven runs (six earned) on 10 hits and walked four.
- Mike Trout did some damage as he went 2-3 with two walks, two RBIs and two runs scored.
- Kole Calhoun had a great performance. He went 2-4 with a home run, two walks, two RBIs and two runs scored.
- Jared Weaver had a great game by his 2016 standards. He lasted six innings, allowed two runs on six hits and struck out five.
Coming off a fairly poor series against the Texas Rangers, this game was an inexcusably poor effort by the Pirates. A bad start from Liriano pretty much buried the team in the first inning and they never recovered. Also didn’t help that Jared Weaver did a good job of keeping the Pirates’ offense uncomfortable.
The Pirates looked to respond with Jeff Locke on the mound for game two.
Game Two: Jeff Locke vs. Jhoulys Chacin
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