Pittsburgh Pirates Takeaways & Throwaways – Free Falling

The Pittsburgh Pirates dropped their seventh game in a row with their 12-6 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals. It was an ugly game as the Pirates were behind from the second inning onward. It was a terrible effort as the team fell under .500.

Takeaways

• Jared Hughes pitched well in relief. He threw two scoreless innings, on only one hit. He was easily the most effective pitcher of the day for the Pirates. Which is never good.
• Andrew McCutchen hit his 20th home run of the season. The rest of the numbers obviously aren’t there this year but nice to see McCutchen hit this power milestone. He joins Gregory Polanco as the second Pirate this season to join the 20 home run club.
• Adam Frazier had a good game off the bench as he went 2-2 with a home run, one RBI, and one run scored. All he’s done as a Major League player is hit.
• Josh Harrison had another multi-hit game as a lead-off hitter. He went 2-4 with a run scored.

Throwaways

• Chad Kuhl did not have a very effective start. He lasted only two innings and allowed three runs on four hit with three walks.
• Jeff Locke did not do a very good job of cleaning up Kuhl’s mess. He allowed seven runs (four earned) on five hits in three innings of work.
• Antonio Bastardo also pitched poorly in relief. He allowed two runs on three hits in his one inning.
• The Pirates are below .500 for the first time since July 2nd.

W: Adam Wainwright (10-8)

L: Chad Kuhl (3-3)

Don’t forget to vote in our Player of the Game Twitter Poll:

The Pirates lose an ugly game 12-6 to the St. Louis Cardinals. Who is your player of the game?

— Jason Rollison (@jrollisonpgh) September 5, 2016

Line of the Night

The line of the night belongs to Adam Frazier.

He went 2-2 off the bench and hit his second home run of the season. He only had four home runs in his entire Minor League career and already has two in his first Major League season. We could be seeing him developing a little bit more pop. I doubt he ever hits more than 15 MLB home runs but it’s still nice to see his power developing as he continues to evolve as a big league hitter.

Up Next

The Pirates will look to end their seven-game losing streak when Ryan Vogelsong takes on either Mike Leake or Luke Weaver tomorrow night at 7:05pm. Mike Leake could make his return from the DL where he’s been recovering from Shingles. Luke Weaver has been fairly solid in his first four games in the big leagues. He has a 3.86ERA with a 4.15FIP.

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