In our daily Wake-Up Call, we get you ready for the day with a complete look at all things Pittsburgh Pirates.
Adam Frazier delivered the big blow with a walk-off homer in the 11th inning to defeat the Chicago Cubs 2-1 Sunday afternoon at PNC Park.
However the biggest story coming from the four-game series was the performance of the Pirates pitching staff, more specifically the starting rotation.
Jameson Taillon tossed six beautiful innings in which he allowed just five hits, striking out eight.
The only run he allowed was a solo homer in the second to Kyle Schwarber.
That was a theme for the series as Pirates starters Taillon, Trevor Williams, Ivan Nova and Joe Musgrove allowed just one run each, all on solo homers.
The bullpen was just as good, allowing no runs in the four-game series.
Somehow though, despite allowing just four total runs in the series, the Pirates managed to win just two of the games as the bats have gone ice cold once again.
The four runs were the fewest runs allowed by the Pirates in a four-game series since allowing four against St. Louis from July 30-Aug. 2, 1992.
With the win, the Pirates are back to one game above .500 and sit nine games back of the Chicago Cubs in the National League Central and remain 5.5 games out of the second wild card spot.
Fundamentals Lacking
Whether it be with the bat, not knowing what to do in certain situations or with the glove, this Pirates team is lacking when it comes to fundamentals.
Sadly it has been for some time.
That rings especially true when it comes to base running.
Once again Gregory Polanco, showed he has no clue what to do on the base paths.
With Polanco on third and one out, a fly ball to left could have given him a chance to score, which is big for a team having trouble scoring runs.
But instead of being on the bag ready to tag, Polanco was dancing around, giving him no chance to score.
The ball wasn’t hit very deep and even though Schwarber’s throw was off line, Polonco may not have scored, but the point is he gave himself no chance.
We all no that Polanco has no baseball IQ to begin with, but that is also on the coaching staff. Third-base coach Joey Cora has to be in Polanco’s ear.
It’s the little things that good teams do to win games.
It’s those little things have have continued to elude to Pirates for years.
Up Next
The Pirates play host to the Atlanta Braves for a three-game series beginning Monday night.
Chirs Archer gets the ball for the Bucs as the Pirates really need to see Archer’s first good start in a Pirates uniform.
Archer is 1-0 with a 5.65 ERA in three starts since he was acquired at the trade deadline.
He will be opposed by Atlanta’s Kevin Gausman, who the Pirates were heavily linked to at the deadline as well.
Gausman has performed much better for his new team, going 2-1 with a 2.84 ERA in Atlanta.
#Bucsin280
#RAISEIT Adam Frazier, aka the best player to ever live, walks it off for the Buccos! #Pirates beat the #Cubs 2-1 and split the series. Jamo pitched 6 hard-nosed innings, allowing just 1 run. He had 8 strikeouts. The bullpen was AIRTIGHT. Pirates are back over .500. #BUCSin280
— Pirates Breakdown (@piratebreakdown) August 19, 2018
Baseball talk on the web
- Pirates and Cubs to meet in 2019 Little League Classic
- Justin Verlander earns win No. 200
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
