Pittsburgh Pirates Takeaways and Throwaways Game 8

The Pittsburgh Pirates used up most of their hits in yesterday’s win over the Tigers and fall 8-2 in the second game of their home and home series in Detroit. The Buccos are now 5-3 for the season. Here are today’s takeaways and throwaways for game eight of the season.

Takeaways:

• Gregory Polanco‘s continued maturity in the game. Last year, Clint Hurdle shared that he met with the 24 year-old right fielder privately when he was experiencing issues both at the plate and in the field and reassured him that he was in the big leagues to stay. That helped settle him down. The same can be said for his finally getting that contract situation nailed down – we’re seeing Polanco 2.0 here – patient at the plate with a MLB-leading 10 walks thus far. Polanco also made two catches in the 6th that prevented at least 2 runs from crossing the plate.
• Starling Marte isn’t going to let a loss ruin his Partay – he gave the Buccos a little hope with a two run homer in the top of the sixth – bringing the game to within two. He’s off to a great start for the season, with a slash line of .310/.375/.448 – unfortunately it wasn’t enough to carry the team to a win this game.

Throwaways:

• This was not the Juan Nicasio we saw last week. Giving up a home run to Justin Upton in three pitches was just a foreshadowing of the issues to come. His slider was not working for him and his command was off early on and he never quite got it back. He went just 3 innings, throwing 94 pitches (52 strikes and 42 balls), giving up 1 homer and 4 runs. No need to hit the panic button yet – but let’s hope today was the exception and not the rule.
• It’s been said that Comerica Park suppresses hits – so we could try to blame the venue for the overall poor hitting we witnessed today – if it weren’t consistently compared to PNC in that regard. Tigers pitcher Anibel Sanchez wasn’t exceptional on the mound – but his steady performance over 5.2 innings, coupled with just bad hitting all around by the Pirates line-up, turned out to be all that the Tigers needed to take the game. Andrew McCutchen had a particularly bad day, swinging and missing off-speed pitches that would normally look like beach balls to the former MVP and ending the day with 2 strikeouts in 4 at bats and an average of .258.

W – Anibel Sanchez (2-0)

L – Juan Nicasio (1-1)

Line of the afternoon:

Justin Upton was unstoppable against the Pirates. He belted a 451-foot homer in the first inning, his first as a Tiger, knocking the wind out of Nicasio’s sails, and just kept swinging – ending the day with 4 hits, a home run and 2 RBIs in 5 at-bats.

Next Up:

The Pirates head home to the friendly confines of PNC Park to take on the Tigers in the final two games of this Home and Home series. The Pirates hit the top of the rotation, with probable match-ups being Gerrit Cole and Francisco Liriano taking on Jordan Zimmerman and Mike Pelfry respectively. Good news, the weather is set to warm up – which is good news for both Pirates pitchers. Cole will be looking for his first win and Liriano will look to take his second win.