Pittsburgh Pirates Wake Up Call – Still Baseball to Play

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

Oh yeah the games

Last night the Pirates defeated the Atlanta Braves 5-3 in game one of their series. Reminding the fan base that there is life after the trade deadline. People were so worked up over the trades that I think many almost forgot we have two months of games to play.

Trading Francisco Liriano was shocking, but he was in the midst of a poor season. We will never forget what Liriano contributed during his time as a Pirate, but he’s gone. It is also important to remember that trading two top 10 prospects will have almost no impact on the 2016 season. It’s just kind of frustrating.

Gerrit Cole pitched well, but the star of the game last night was Adam Frazier and our player of the game poll reflected that.

Here are the results:

#Pirates are victorious over the #Braves 5-3 behind Cole & the reformed bullpen. Who was your Player of the Game?

— Jason Rollison (@jrollisonpgh) August 3, 2016

The Tony Watson Era has begun

Tony Watson recorded his first save as the official Pirates’ closer last night. He pitched a scoreless ninth inning and for the most part, it was a fairly easy inning. During the offseason, a lot of people assumed that Mark Melancon was as good as traded. So I think they expected that Watson would always end up as the closer. It just took a bit longer than expected.

Tony Watson has been one of the game’s best relief pitchers since 2013 and he should be a very effective closer. If you can pitch the eighth inning, you can pitch the ninth. It’ll be interesting to see how Watson does the remainder of the season. I’m also excited to see what his entrance song is when he has a save opportunity at PNC Park.

Baseball Talk on the Web

What you need to know about prospects dealt at MLB trade deadline from an expert

July stats recap: MLB’s best and worst from the month

MLB’s shocking rookie sensation likely done for the year

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