Pittsburgh Pirates Takeaways & Throwaways – Tough Loss at Wrigley

The Pittsburgh Pirates lost a wild 13 inning affair to the Cubs on Monday . Here are the takeaways and throwaways from the 8-7 defeat at Wrigley Field.

Takeaways

• The big hit of the evening for the Pirates came off of the bat of Gregory Polanco, an opposite field three run shot on the first pitch he saw from Jake Arrieta in the sixth inning. Polanco solidified his lead in home runs (21) and RBI (79) and is making a very strong case to fill the cleanup spot in the batting order. He has been the most consistent power bat lately and should continue to hit in the four spot going forward.
• Another night, another big hit from Josh Bell. It seems like all he has done since he came back to Pittsburgh is hit. He clubbed his second career home run, an opposite field shot similar to Polanco’s, in the 4th inning. He also drew two more walks, giving him nine free bases to just two strikeouts. With the patience that he has shown and the power that he has occasionally displayed, the switch hitting Bell could fit in any position in the Pittsburgh lineup going forward.
• The memory of Arrieta dicing up the Pirates in the Wild Card game in 2015 is starting to become a distant thought. The last two times that Arrieta has faced Pittsburgh he has given up six runs against them, showing that he is indeed human. Monday was a great example that if the Pirates can be patient and wait for their pitches against Arrieta, he can be beat.
• Startling Marte earned his 16th and 17th outfield assists when he threw Javier Baez out at home in the 10th and 12th innings. Marte did have some at-bats during the extended contest when he swung at every pitch thrown to him, but he once again disaplayed his powerful throwing arm  and showed why teams should not test him.

Throwaways

• Steven Brault did not have the kind of start that the team hoped for, although he was up against the best team in the league. Brault lasted just four innings on Monday, giving up three runs (two earned) on five hits and two walks to go along with four strikeouts. He was not efficient with his pitch count as he needed 92 pitches to complete four frames. It remains to be seen if Brault will get another start, but if he does he’ll need to make better pitches and go deeper into the game, because fourth inning exits are not a recipe for success for any starter.
• Marte made a pretty bad base running blunder in the fifth after he reached on a single. He stole second (his 45th of  the year; he added his 46th later in the game) and then made it to third after the throw went into center field. Francisco Cervelli hit a weak ground ball back to Jake Arrieta and Marte was hung up between third and home for a moment before eventually being tossed out at the plate. This is the type of mistake that a team can ill afford against bad team, but especially should not have happen against the top team in the league.
• The eighth and ninth innings were not pretty for the relief corps of the Pirates. Feliz gave up a two run homer to Willson Contreras in the eighth and Tony Watson blew the save in the ninth when he allowed a solo shot to Jorge Soler to tie the game. Both of these relievers have been fairly solid this season, it’s just too unfortunate that they both had bad appearances in the game game.

W – Rob Zastryzny (1-0)

L – Jeff Locke (9-8)

Line of the Night

Tonight’s Line of the Night goes to Mr. Arrieta, and not for the reasons he’d like.

The Pirates were able to get to Arrieta for the second consecutive start, scoring six runs off him in six and a third innings of work. He only struck out three and issued three walks to go along with five hits. Arrieta also displayed some displeasure with the strike zone, which certainly led to a lot of frustration on the mound. This was a great display by the Pittsburgh offense and shows that if they take a patient approach towards Arrieta, he can be beat.

The Pirates drop a heartbreaker to the Cubs 8-7. Who is your player of the game? (Remember we do this EVERY game)

— Jason Rollison (@jrollisonpgh) August 30, 2016

Up Next

The series at Wrigley Field continues tomorrow when the Pirates send Chad Kuhl (3-1, 3.50) to the mound to face off against Kyle Hendricks (12-7, 2.19). Kuhl has given the Pirates five consecutive quality starts and hasn’t given up more than two earned runs since his start back on July 9th against these same Cubs. Hendricks on the other hand leads the NL in ERA and has also been rolling as of late, as he has registered five consecutive quality starts as well.