Pittsburgh Pirates Takeaways and Throwaways – Can’t figure out Arrieta

The Pirates pitching staff gave up 11 walks for the first time in almost 10 years and the Pirates offense was shut out for the first time this season in game one of their series against the Cubs. The final score was 6-0.

Takeaways-

• Despite not being able to get a run across the board against the Cubs’ starter, the Pirates forced Jake Arrieta‘s pitch count well over 60 pitches in the first three innings. A nine-pitch fourth inning hindered the Pirates’ progress of chasing Arrieta earlier in the game, however, the patience in the beginning of the game was more of a flashback of the beginning of the season when the Pirates were leading the league in pitches seen per at bat as well as OBP. This all led to a rocky sixth inning by Arrieta in which he walked three Pirates in a row and threw over 30 pitches in the inning. Even in the midst of all this trouble, Arrieta was able to get out of the inning without the Pirates scoring a run by striking out David Freese and Matt Joyce to end the inning.
• While Liriano’s first inning was less than stellar, he was able to settle down and get his strikeout pitch working against the Cubs. Francisco Lirano struck out six batters through three innings after giving up the two-run home run. Liriano buckled down and gave up one hit over the next 10 Cubs’ plate appearances. He ended up going 5.2 innings in which he gave up three runs on six hits.

Throwaways-

• Before the people of Wrigley could even get settled in their seats,  Liriano gave up a two-run home run to Matt Szczur on the second pitch of the ballgame. The Cubs jumped on Liriano fast by putting the first two pitches of the game in play and converting them into runs. Liriano is giving up 1.74 home runs per nine innings. This was Szczur’s second home run of the season. On top of giving up the long ball, Liriano’s walk rate has been up as well. He walked five batters in today’s game against the Cubs and is averaging 5.45 walks per nine innings this season. After walking players to load the bases in the fourth and fifth inning, Liriano was able to pull his best Houdini and get out of the innings unscathed.
• After falling behind quickly in the first inning, the Pirates had a chance to get on the board in the second inning after back-to-back singles by Jordy Mercer and Chris Stewart. The Pirates had runners on first and third with no one out only to have Arrieta strike out the next three batters. The Pirates then had the bases loaded with one out in the sixth inning against Arrieta, only to not put a run across the board once again.  After climbing to a season high nine-games over .500 on May 28, the Pirates offense has fallen apart, averaging less than two runs per game and going 9-15 since.

Line of the Night-

Jake Arrieta

6.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 11 K

Arrieta continues his dominance of the Pirates while facing little pressure from the Pirates’ offense.

Up Next-

The Pirates and Cubs will play the second game of the series at Wrigley under the lights on Saturday. Jonathon Niese (6-3) will take the mound for the Pirates as Jon Lester (8-3) will toe the rubber for the Cubs. Niese is coming off of his worst outing of the year in which he gave up eight earned runs in 5.1 innings pitched against the Cardinals. While Niese has given up his fair share of runs this season, he currently has a 4.60 ERA, the offense has been able to pick him up in most of his starts. This will be a tough task against Lester, who has posted a 1.89 ERA so far this season.