In our daily Wake-Up Call, we get you ready for the day with a complete look at all things Pittsburgh Pirates
Did the Pirates fail their first big test of 2016?
We can imagine that many Pittsburgh Pirates fans are waking up today with a bad taste in their mouth.
Coming off of his worst outing in the midst of his historic streak, many felt that Jake Arrieta might have shown a crack – albeit a very very small one – that the Pirates could exploit with their new on-base centric run creation approach. Certainly, the script started out that way, with John Jaso and Andrew McCutchen drawing two consecutive walks to open the game.
And then Arrieta bopre down and retired 14 out of the next 15 batters. The Cubs scratched out six runs and that was all she wrote. Arrieta rode off into the Pittsburgh night with his 17th straight win dating back to last season.
Having already lost the first series of the year to the Cubs, it’s tempting to consider the Pirates as having failed their first big test of 2016. They can still salvage a game against Jon Lester this afternoon. Regardless of today’s outcome, Clint Hurdle will need to remind his charges to ‘shower well’ and prepare for the St. Louis Cardinals.
Is Hughes truly ready?
With the Pirates down big late, the time seemed right to get some further work for Jared Hughes. The right-handed reliever did not show very well for the second straight outing. Though his final line saw just two hits and one earned run, Hughes came far from passing the eye-test. Many of his pitches were high up in the zone, a far cry from the pounding of the lower half that we are used to seeing from him. His rehab start was also shaky, so getting more work will be paramount to rounding into form.
Yesterday’s Player of the Game
After each game (win or lose), the staff at Pirates Breakdown will go to twitter to let the people be heard. We’ll ask you who you think should be deemed the Pirates player who had the most impact on the game as a whole – win or lose. Here now is yesterday’s result:
The Pirates fall to Jake Arrieta and the Cubs 7-1. Despite that, still need your choice for player of the game.
— Jason Rollison (@jrollisonpgh) May 4, 2016
Make sure to watch for this poll on our twitter feed after each game.
Baseball talk from around the web
- Stop us if you’ve heard this one before, but former Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum is set to have his showcase this week. Right now, the Pirates are not one of the teams linked to attending, but that might change.
- Our friends over at Jays From the Couch pose the question: What is going on with Russell Martin?
- Hardball Talk gives an update on former Pirate Bronson Arroyo‘s comeback attempt.
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