Pittsburgh Pirates Takeaways & Throwaways – Pirates Dodge A Win

The Pittsburgh Pirates dropped the second game of the weekend series in Los Angeles with a 8-4 loss on Saturday. Here are the takeaways and throwaways from the afternoon contest.

Takeaways

• Just like on Friday, the Pirates were able to score first but this time it was with a lot of patience at the plate. Brandon McCarthy was wild in the the first frame, walking Starling Marte and Andrew McCutchen before hitting Jung Ho Kang. With the bases loaded, he issued another walk to John Jaso, giving the Pirates a lead that was short lived. The Pirates repeated the process in the second, when Gregory Polanco drew a bases loaded walk to score Adam Frazier and end McCarthy’s afternoon.
• Kang connected for a solo shot in the sixth inning. Despite his rough play in the field, Kang’s bat could play a huge role in the season’s waning days if he can get it going.

Throwaways

• While the Pirates did show a lot of patience at the plate, drawing a total of five walks from McCarthy, they also left the bases loaded in the first when Francisco Cervelli struck out looking and in the second when John Jaso popped up to end the inning against the new pitcher Josh Fields. They accomplished the feat again the sixth inning when Jordy Mercer could not plate at least a run. The Pirates need to do a better job of capitalizing on their opponent’s mistakes and not leave so many men on base.
• Gerrit Cole did not have a good outing as he only pitched into the fifth inning. He gave up a whopping 12 hits  and six runs (four earned) and only had three strikeouts. On top of the pitching performance, he also was not able to lay down a proper sacrifice bunt and allowed the Dodgers to get the lead runner at third. This was certainly a start that Cole will look to put behind it right away.
• It was not a good day in the field for the Pirates on Saturday. Kang was charged with two errors on the same play when he could not field or throw the ball cleanly in the third. Then in the fifth inning Polanco bobbled a ball in right field and then on the very next hit allowed it to go over his head due to a bad route to the ball.
• Marte was forced to leave the game in the seventh inning with upper back discomfort.
• We saved our worst throwaway for last. When Polanco could not bring in Eric Fryer and Josh Harrison in the bottom of the ninth, the Pittsburgh Pirates tied a team record with 18 men left on base.

W – Julio Urias (3-2)

L – Cole (7-8)

S- Kenley Jansen (35)

Line of the Afternoon

Unfortunately today’s focus is on Gerrit Cole, and not for the right reasons.

Cole pitched just four and a third innings and gave up 12 hits. Those dozen hits resulted in six runs, four of which were earned. He also only struck out three hitters but on the bright side he did not walk anyone. Cole will need to be sharper his next time out, as he is scheduled to face the Miami Marlins at PNC Park next weekend.

Up Next

The series wraps up Sunday afternoon at 4:10pm when Chad Kuhl (2-0, 3.91) and Brett Anderson face off in Chavez Ravine. Kuhl won his last decision and has allowed just two runs in his last 12 innings to go along with a 4/9 BB/K ratio in those two starts. Anderson will make his 2016 debut in the finale, after spending all of this season on the disabled list as he recovered from back surgery. Anderson sports a 37-41 record and has an ERA of 3.72 in his career so far.