Pittsburgh Pirates Wake Up Call – Team a Mess Across the Board

Our daily Wake-Up Call gets you ready for the day with a look at all things Pittsburgh Pirates.

Last night’s game was interesting on a number of levels. For one, the Pirates were no-hit through six innings by Julio Urias. For another, Ivan Nova had a great start, but he did issue two walks, his second and third walks of the season. Oh, and despite a back-and-forth effort, at least on the scoreboard, the Dodgers walked off the Pirates in the 10th off Daniel Hudson, who has given up two walk-offs recently now.

The Pirates have been an interesting, wildly inconsistent team this year. They’ve swept the Cubs, but gotten swept by the Reds. Players get hot and play well, then end up on the disabled list. Two of their best players are done for most of the season for stupidity. It’s been a struggle so far, and the Pirates haven’t really been able to adjust to the players they’ve lost this season.

All-in-all, save for a few players, the team is struggling across the board. Last night the lineup featured only one player batting above .250 this season (Josh Harrison). Andrew McCutchen hasn’t had a good start to his rebound campaign. Josh Bell is in a bit of a sophomore slump. Gregory Polanco has yet to live up to the hype that he’s had since entering the league. Their starting pitching has generally been very good, but that took a hit with the news about Jameson Taillon. Sure, this may be a lost season already for the Pirates with Starling Marte and Jung Ho Kang done for most of the year. But it’d be nice to see Andrew McCutchen rebound, Tyler Glasnow take a step forward, and others improve their play as well.

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Baseball Talk Around the Web

• Jake Arrieta was the ultimate nemesis to the Pirates in 2015. The Pirates seemed to solve him last season. But did they really solve him, or is he just in decline? He’s had a rough 2017 after all, as Jesse Rogers of ESPN breaks down.
• And Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports lays out why this summer’s trade market could be more intriguing than it usually is.

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