The Pittsburgh Pirates won their first game in September with a 4-3 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals Wednesday night at PNC Park. Here are the takeaways and throwaways from the contest.
Takeaways
- Hot Coffee- Outfielder Gregory Polanco broke an 0-for-18 hitless streak with an RBI single Tuesday night and followed it up with a two hit performance Wednesday night. Polanco added another RBI to his
- Mr. Freese- David Freese brought his average up to .268 with a two hit night against one of his former teams in the Cardinals. Freese also scored on a Jung Ho Kang single in the bottom of the first inning. The first basement went 2-for-(TOTAL ABS) on the evening.
- Me Llamo Trevor- Trevor Williams, one of the better players in the twittersphere made his Major League debut Wednesday night ceding only an unearned run and three hits in three innings of work. The former second round draft pick finished with a walk and two strikeouts on the evening.
Throwaways
- Attention to Details- Another misplay in the outfield led to extra bases for Yadier Molina in the top half of the sixth inning. Right fielder Adam Frazier had the Molina fly ball until taking his eye of the ball at the last second before the ball grazed the thumb of his glove and fell to the ground allowing Molina to get to second base. Molina would later score to tie the game.
- Starting pitchers having short nights- Starting pitcher Jameson Taillon held the Cardinals to two runs, but only managed five innings of work due to a high pitch count. Pirates starters have not gone more than five innings in any game since last Saturday when Ivan Nova went six innings against the Milwaukee Brewers. With an already taxed bullpen, the Pirates need to have their starters go deeper in to games if they want to get back into the playoff hunt.
W – Trevor Williams (1-0)
L – Alex Reyes (1-1)
S – Tony Watson (11)
Line of the Night
Tonight we will focus on third baseman Jung Ho Kang who was recently activated from the disabled list.
Since being activated from the disabled list on Monday, Kang has been on fire. Kang was 3-for-4 with two singles and a game winning home run in the bottom of the eighth inning. The second-year third baseman is 6-for-10 with five RBIs and four runs scored in the three games he’s appeared in. Along with the quality offense, Kang has been superb with the leather since his return.
Player Of The Game
Hop on over to our twitter feed to cast your vote for tonight’s Player Of The Game!
The #Pirates end their losing streak with a 4-3 win over the #Cardinals. Who was your Player of the Game?
— Jason Rollison (@jrollisonpgh) September 8, 2016
Up Next
The Pirates welcome the Cincinnati Reds to PNC Park for a four-game series beginning Thursday night at 7:05PM. Ivan Nova will be making his seventh start in black and gold and in search of his fifth win since coming over from the New York Yankees in a trade deadline deal. On the mound for the Reds will be Dan Straily who brings a 10-7 record in to Thursday night’s match-up as well as a 3.83 ERA.
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