Pittsburgh Pirates Takeaways & Throwaways - Cole Struggles Yet Again

The Pittsburgh Pirates drop the series against the Houston Astros losing 5-4 as Gerrit Cole struggles yet again.

The Pittsburgh Pirates finished their home stand losing five of six after winning five of six on the West Coast.

Gregory Polanco continued his dominance this series adding two more hits today including a triple. In total, Polanco was 7-13 with two home runs, two doubles, and a triple against the Astros. His batting average is back on the up once again nearing .280 for the season. Jordy Mercer also swatted his ninth home run of the season while adding a single to help charge the Pirate offense.
The bullpen – After Gerrit Cole’s subpar outing, the Pirate bullpen kept the game close as Jared Hughes, Juan Nicasio, Felipe Rivero, and Tony Watson all threw scoreless innings without giving up a hit.

Cole struggled again today giving up five runs over five innings pitched. In five starts since throwing a complete game against the Mariners, Cole has given up 18 runs over 26.2 innings pitched, good for a 6.08 ERA. Cole’s fastball looked flat today sitting at 92-94 mph and was handled easily by Astro hitters. Cole finished with a line of seven hits, five earned runs, one walk, and four strikeouts. As of late, he has been the Pirates’ worst starting pitcher, and if the Pirates can manage to make the Wild Card game, it wouldn’t be a sure lock that he would pitch.
Josh Harrison was the only Pirates’ starter that failed to record a hit. He was 0-4 with sac bunt in the fifth inning. The decision to bunt for a hit was questionable as the Pirates had runners on first and second with nobody out. The Pirates ended up scoring two runs that inning, but those runs would have scored anyway without Harrison’s sacrifice bunt.

L – Gerrit Cole (7-9)

S – Ken Giles (5)

Food for thought:

Gregory Polanco was 2-5 today with a triple, single, and two RBIs. This was his third triple of the season.

Hop on over to our twitter feed to cast your vote for today’s Player Of The Game!

The #Pirates lose to the #Astros 5-4. Who is your Player Of The Game?

— Jason Rollison (@jrollisonpgh) August 24, 2016

The Pirates head to Milwaukee to take on the Brewers. Chad Kuhl will face off against Wily Peralta.

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