In our daily Wake-Up Call, we get you ready for the day with a complete look at all things Pittsburgh Pirates.
Thursday night was a night to forget for the Pittsburgh Pirates as they played one of their worst games of the month in a 12-6 loss to the New York Mets at PNC Park.
Nick Kingham was terrible. The bullpen wasn’t much better, and the defense was worse in the loss.
Definitely not the type of performance you would expect from a team in contention. against an opponent like the Mets, but baseball is a funny game.
Overall, Pirates pitchers walked nine on the night. Eight of those free passes came from Kingham and Tyler Glasnow, who combined, needed 131 pitches to get through just six innings. They combined to throw only 69 strikes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jdv2Wp9MzY0
The game was tied at four after three thanks to a pair of two-run homers from David Freese and Josh Harrison, who also both committed errors on the night.
Kingham probably shouldn’t have come out for the fourth but did. He responded by giving up a two-run shot to Asdrubal Cabrera and things just snowballed from there.
Cabrera drove in four on the night.
Kingham allowed six runs and seven hits in three-plus innings and walked a career-high four batters.
It was the second time in three starts he lasted only three innings, which makes the need for another starting pitcher even greater.
The Bucs had Steven Matz on the ropes at times and worked his pitch count up through three innings, but Matz settled down and got plenty of run support.
The Pirates defense committing three errors on the night didn’t make things any easier. They were charged with three errors, but there were plenty of other plays that weren’t made as well.
Days like that happen from time to time so it will be imperative that the Pirates turn things around tonight.
They currently sit eight games behind the Chicago Cubs in the National League Central and 3.5 games out of the final wild card spot.
No Dickerson, No Marte
Both Corey Dickerson and Starling Marte were out of the lineup again and itt just goes to show how important they are to the Pirates offense.
To be fair the Bucs did score six runs and against a team like the Mets, that should bee enough to win every time out.
Neither injury appears serious so hopefully they are back in the lineup tonight, as guys like Sean Rodriguez, Adam Frazier and Jordan Luplow shouldn’t be getting a lot of starts this time of the year.
Luplow and Frazier each did have two hits on the night.
Cervelli Back
Catcher Francisco Cervelli returned to the lineup and got the start over Elias Diaz, which should raise some eyebrows.
He went 0-for-4 and committed an error, although he made a beautiful throw nabbing Brandon Nimmo attempting to steal second base.
Up Next
The Bucs have lost two in a row and need to rebound tonight against the Mets.
Ivan Nova (6-6, 4.28 ERA) gets the ball for the Pirates. He has been great since returning from the DL.
He will be opposed by the Mets Jason Vargas (2-6, 8.60 ERA), who will be activated from the DL prior to the game.
#BUCSin280
Ugly loss tonight. #Pirates crushed at home by the #Mets 12-6. Kingham showed little command and got blasted. 6 earned over 3. After two early homers from Freese and Jhay, the bats fizzled out. Luplow made some nice plays. It seemed like the Bucs threw 1000 pitches tn. #BUCSin280
— Pirates Breakdown (@piratebreakdown) July 27, 2018
Baseball on the web
- Aaron Judge out with fractured wrist
- Cubs to acquire Texas starter Cole Hamels
- Yankees acquire Toronto starter J.A. Happ
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