Pittsburgh Pirates Takeaways & Throwaways – No Giant Slayers Found

The Pittsburgh Pirates Drop Another to the Giants – Now 5 Games Back from the Second Place Cardinals

The skies above Pittsburgh today reflect the current mood of the Pittsburgh Pirates and their fans. Grey, gloomy, foreboding. The Pittsburgh Pirates are having a rough month. Today they didn’t fare much better, dropping the last game of their four game series against the San Francisco Giants 5-3, their third loss in as many days.

Takeaways

• Josh Harrison snapped a bit of a slump in four at-bats garnering two runs, one hit and one RBI on a fantastic triple in the bottom of the third. He also made some great defensive plays, keeping the game just within reach. Inspiration comes from everywhere – let’s hope he can serve as some bit of a spark for his teammates.
• Rest for the Pen. In Wednesday’s game the Bucs needed four from the pen and in Tuesday’s, they needed four (plus a catcher), so Niese eeking out six full innings did help to spell the bullpen a bit. AJ Schugel threw 15 pitches for his 1-2-3 seventh, and Caminero pitching two innings unscathed also helped ease the weariness.

Throwaways

• The third inning. The Buccos started out hot, with Niese throwing two solid, three-up, three-down innings. Offense was working too, with lead off man Jaso getting on base on a HBP, then Josh Harrison grounding into a force at second but averting the DP. He took advantage of a throwing error by pitcher Suarez to sprint to third, then Polanco got him in on a sacrifice fly. The bottom of the second started just like the first with the lead off man walking, then potential runners on base – but nothing was converted. But the score was still 1-0. Then the wheels came off. Niese allowed his first baserunner on, then a screamer by Gillespie followed by a bunt by Suarez puts runners on second and third. Niese loaded the bases then gave up a triple to Panik, emptying the bases aided by an unofficial fielding error by Polanco in center. A Williamson hit got Panik home and the score was suddenly 4-1. The game felt very familiar at that point – like it was about to get away.
• For the month of June, the Pirates ranked 29th in terms of hitting with runners in scoring position for a dismal .209. It’s the brokenest of broken records by now – getting runners on base isn’t the end of it – they gotta come home, too. The Buccos left five on base today.

W – Albert Suarez (3-1)

L – Jonathan Niese (6-5)

S – Santiago Casilla (16)

Line of the Night – The Giants’ bullpen had the Pittsburgh Pirates’ number today striking out 4, giving up only 1 hit and walking none in four innings of work.

Next Up – The Buccos start the first game of another four-game series against the Dodgers at PNC before heading out west for a few games against Seattle and Oakland. Rookie Jameson Taillon (1-1) will make his fourth major league start for the Pirates against right-hander Nick Tepesch, who is making his first start for the Dodgers after being promoted from the triple-A Oklahoma City Dodgers.

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