Pittsburgh Pirates Wake Up Call: Juanderful Tonight

In our daily Wake-Up Call, we get you ready for the day with a complete look at all things Pittsburgh Pirates

The Pittsburgh Pirates completed their sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals last night, topping the redbirds 5-1.

Anytime that the club wins a series against their hated NL Central rivals, much less a sweep, that fact alone would dominate the headlines.

Not on this night.

Okay, perhaps the sweep is still the takeaway from this series, but on this night, Juan Nicasio stole some headlines. As a refresher, here was his line from last night:

In putting up a strong line, Nicasio silenced any early doubters. He showed an excellent repertoire of pitches, and looked comfortable in his first start since June 15 of 2015.

Looking back at a team level, the win and the series as a whole served as an excellent harbinger of the season to come. The Pirates drew seven walks last night – three from Gregory Polanco alone – and rode a strong bullpen to seal the deal.

Although the season is a scant three days old, the formula that we saw start to take shape in spring has been fully realized. The best news for the Pittsburgh Pirates is that they will likely not face a left handed starter in the upcoming series vs the Cincinnati Reds, and thus will not have to deviate from this lineup, which is absolutely churning right now.

Night of 1,000 puns

Nicasio’s start led to a deluge of puns. Some were good, some were bad, but they were plentiful.   Here’s a few of the ones that made us chuckle.

Nicasio strong in start Number Juan

— Matt Gajtka (GITE-kah) (@MattGajtka) April 6, 2016

Nicasio's performance so far is making me Juan-a cheer! (Terrible wordplay…deal with it)

— Jaime Baker (@JBaker_WTOV) April 7, 2016

https://twitter.com/theJoshBanks/status/717854688566185984

Baseball links from the web

Trevor Story is the talk of the baseball world right now, and rightfully so after the rookie sensation homered yet again.

One of the best offensive players in the game, Josh Donaldson, is day-to-day with a strained calf, explaining that loud shrieking noise heard from north of the border.

Jake Goebbert was claimed by the Rays yesterday. Goebbert had an inside track to a spot on the 25-man roster early in the offseason, but was made expendable by the acquisitions of Matt Joyce and David Freese.

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