Pittsburgh Pirates Wake Up Call - The Offense Shows Up

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 beat up on the Detroit Tigers yesterday by a score of 11-1. It was easily the Pirates’ best offensive output of the spring. The team wracked up 11 runs on 12 hits, including three runs on two home runs against Justin Verlander.

Obviously, you can’t put too much stock into Spring Training numbers as pitchers aren’t always going full blast but it was good to finally see the offense show up. Steven Brault looked fairly solid as well as he allowed one run in two innings of work.

Pirates’ pitching has been fantastic so far this spring. The team has put up a 3.48ERA in over 60 innings of Spring Training baseball. Once again, you can’t put too much stock in Spring Training numbers but for a team that struggled to consistently pitch well last season, it’s still nice to see.

The Cole Train

Gerrit Cole is set to make his spring debut today against the Baltimore Orioles. It’s important that Cole has a healthy spring. The numbers are basically unimportant but after his struggles with health last year, you want to see him have a full workload entering the 2017 regular season.

Sports fans are almost always “what have you done for me lately?” Which is why it seems like the hype isn’t there for Mr. Cole this year. Following his spectacular 2015 season, there was no doubt to anyone that Cole was the Pirates’ ace. Now it seems like there are some lingering doubts. Either way, Gerrit Cole has a lot to prove this year and a healthy Spring Training is the best way to jumpstart a successful 2017 season.

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