Pittsburgh Pirates Takeaways & Throwaways – One that Got Away

The Pittsburgh Pirates fell again tonight to the San Francisco Giants by a score of 7-6. The Pirates held an early 6-1 lead, but Francisco Liriano and Jared Hughes allowed that lead to slip away as the Giants took the third game of the four-game series.

Takeaways

• Francisco Liriano continues to rake at the plate. He had a single tonight and he’s batting .321 on the season. Somehow, some way he found his stroke last season, and has turned into one of the better hitting pitchers in all of baseball. After countless years of watching horrid batting pitchers at the plate, it’s nice to see one that’s a threat to hit once in a while.
• The offense for the Pirates returned tonight, albeit in a losing effort. The team scored six runs, the most they’ve scored in a game since June 4th, and only the second time this month they’ve scored more than five runs in a game. This is a dramatic change from the beginning of the season when their offense was so good. Maybe this is a sign of things to come, or maybe it’s an outlier.
• Neftali Feliz and Tony Watson continue to slowly improve, as each pitched a scoreless inning in relief. Feliz’s ERA now sits at 3.42 while Watson’s is at 3.60. If they can both continue improving, only the middle relief of the bullpen remains an issue at the back-end.

Throwaways

• We keep waiting for Liriano to turn it around and…well…that isn’t happening. He started off the game well, pitching a scoreless first and allowing just one run through the first three innings. But he ended up allowing runs in the fourth and fifth innings, and left the game after just five innings of work. Liriano, even if he pitches into the sixth or seventh inning, can’t seem to put a quality start together this season. He hasn’t pitched a scoreless outing since his first start of the year.
• Not even the mainstays of the bullpen can escape from the troubles of the entire bullpen. Jared Hughes was the victim this time through, allowing three runs in just an inning of work. Mark Melancon remains the only member of the bullpen with an ERA below three this season.
• The Pirates dropped to a season-low four games under .500 after tonight. There’s still plenty of time left in the season, but a lot has to happen for a major turn-around to occur.

Line of the Night

Gregory Polanco – 3/4, 3 RBI, 2 R, 0 BB, 1 SO

Polanco had a three-run bomb in the second inning to put the Pirates ahead early as he continues his stellar season.

Next Up

The Pirates finish out this four-game series with the Giants tomorrow afternoon at 12:35 PM at PNC Park. Jon Niese hopes to rebound from a rough couple of outings as he takes on Albert Suarez of the Giants.

Thanks for checking us out here at Pirates Breakdown. Please make sure to follow us on Twitter and Instagram and like us on Facebook for the best Pirates coverage all year long!