Pittsburgh Pirates Takeaways & Throwaways – Annoyingly Frustrating

The Pittsburgh Pirates dropped game two of the series to Jake Arrieta and the Chicago Cubs 8-2. It was one of the more frustrating games of the season for the Pirates as they had a lead 2-0 in the fourth inning, before Jeff Locke allowed the Cubs to put up three runs in the  bottom of the same inning and the Cubs never looked back. Once again they completely dominated and set the tone.

Takeaways: 

• Francisco Cervelli had the big hit for the Pirates, driving in two ruins on a single to center field. It really felt like the Pirates were getting to Arrieta early in the ballgame and this was the culmination of that. The Pirates had a 2-0 lead and things seemed to be going their way.
• Andrew McCutchen had a double off of Arrieta and once again seems to be the only Pirates that can consistently get hits off the Cubs’ ace. The at-bat was really fantastic, as McCutchen fouled off several pitches and worked a 10 pitch at-bat before doubling into the gap. The fourth inning proved to be the only real highlight of the game for the Pirates.

Throwaways:

• Jeff Locke looked really good through the first three innings of the game, but once the Pirates took the lead, he returned to the form that has made many members of the fan base really dislike him. By the time he left the mound, he had given up six runs on six hits in 5.1 innings of work.
• Jung Ho Kang was hit by a pitch squarely in the back and some people, including Pirates’ broadcaster Greg Brown thought it looked intentional. After giving up the two runs, he reached back and hit Kang with 93MPH right between the numbers. The Pirates were never able to respond to the hit by pitch as Miguel Montero was hit, but by an 0-2 change-up. Despite it clearly being unintentional, the home plate umpire still issued warnings to both benches. So the Pirates were never able to respond to the Kang hit by pitch.

Line of the Afternoon: Jake Arrieta – Eight innings, two runs, three hits and 11 strike outs.

Arrieta did what he always seems to do against the Pirates and everyone else in the league. He did look a bit shaky early, but once he had the lead, he settled in and the Pirates never had a chance. He completely dominated the Pirates yet again.

Up Next: Gerrit Cole takes on Jon Lester as the Pirates look to salvage a game in the series and avoid their second straight sweep at the hands of the hated Cubs. Cole is coming off a fairly strong start against the St. Louis Cardinals as he went six innings, allowed two runs on six hits and struck out seven.

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