Pittsburgh Pirates Takeaways & Throwaways – Doubleheader Sweep

The Pittsburgh Pirates secured a series win against the New York Mets when they won the second game of the doubleheader by the same score as they won the first game, 3-1. Here are the takeaways and throwaways from the nightcap of the doubleheader.

Takeaways

• Juan Nicasio looked determined on Tuesday to make any decisions about the future of the rotation very difficult on management. Nicasio gave the Pirates five strong innings (even making it into the sixth), surrendering just one run on three hits and two walks. He also struck out seven, one shy of his season high. Even if he is eventually moved to the bullpen, Nicasio could function as a great arm that could give Clint Hurdle multiple innings.
• After getting roughed up in his last three outings to the tune of seven runs over two and one third innings, Tony Watson pitched a clean seventh inning, allowing no base runners and striking out one. Hopefully Tuesday’s outing is a sign of things to come for Watson. Jared Hughes, Neftali Feliz and Mark Melancon also added scoreless innings to pave the way for a second win on Tuesday.

Throwaways

• There weren’t many downsides to the second game of the doubleheader, but one is definitely Andrew McCutchen. McCutchen went hitless in four at-bats and struck out twice. He is now slashing .250/.332/.429 on the season. Now that the calendar has flipped to June, McCutchen’s struggles at the plate are becoming more concerning.
• Matt Joyce has been swinging a hot bat as of late, but tonight he was ice cold. Like McCutchen, he went hitless in four trips to the plate. Unlike McCutchen, Joyce struck out every time he came up.  One bad game is not going to change how Hurdle deploys Joyce going forward, since it is so rare to see a hitter strike out every time they come up to the plate.

W – Juan Nicasio (5-4)

L  – Jacob deGrom (3-2)

S – Mark Melancon (19)

Line of the Night

Tonight we’ll focus on Nicasio, who as mentioned above pitched a very good game tonight.

Nicasio needed 89 pitches (57 strikes) to work into the sixth inning. He struck out seven and only allowed five base runners. While he did appear to start to run out of gas (explaining why he was pulled in the sixth), he gave the Pirates another good outing. When decisions looming around who stays in the rotation, Nicasio is definitely still in the conversation.

Up Next

The three game series wraps up on Wednesday at 7:05pm and will feature a matchup of two of the most promising arms in the game when Jameson Taillon (4-2, 2.04 w/ Indianapolis) makes his MLB debut against Noah Syndergaard (6-2, 1.91). Taillon’s journey to the big leagues is well documented and he’ll look to use his outstanding pitch arsenal to outduel Snydergaard, who has been mowing down opposing hitters this season.