Pittsburgh Pirates Wake-Up Call – Return of the Offense

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

This past series for the Pittsburgh Pirates was a very good one, if not a bit surprising considering they didn’t take advantage of an overwhelmingly easy part of their schedule. Now, the Pirates are just 1.5 games back in the second Wild Card spot, and things actually seem to be looking up. The rotation is as strong as it’s been all season long, Andrew McCutchen is playing better, and the offense as a whole is slowly returning. Then again, the Pirates haven’t managed to get more than four games above .500 since the beginning of June. Maybe we can start buying into the Pirates more if they can take this next series against the Giants.

Yesterday’s game was a very good one for the Pirates. Chad Kuhl gave the Pirates another quality start. He’s yet to give up more than four runs in a start, and the Pirates have yet to lose a game he starts. What has Kuhl done well so far? Well, he’s only issued nine walks in those seven starts, and eight of those walks came in two of the starts. He didn’t issue a free pass yesterday. He’s similar to Jameson Taillon in his ability to maintain control of his pitches, and he’s certainly cementing his place in the rotation moving forward.

Andrew McCutchen seems to be finding his stride right now, but we should be cautiously optimistic for now. He’s gotten hot before during the season and cooled off. But what stands out about him now is the number of walks he’s taking. He already has 10 walks in August, the most he’s had in a month since April, and twice the number of walks he had in July. This is a good sign. Adam Frazier had a four-hit day as he continues to be a tremendous player off the bench for the Pirates. He’s adding to the strongest bench we’ve seen from the Pirates in years. And how about Felipe Rivero and how he’s pitched since coming over to the Pirates? He has yet to allow a run, and yesterday he struck out three batters in 1.1 innings of work. It’s still early and it’s a small sample size, but it’s nice to see him doing well so far.

Tomorrow night the Pirates head to San Francisco as Ryan Vogelsong gets the start against his former team.

Yesterday’s Player of the Game

Update: #RaiseIT The Pirates defeat the Dodgers 11-3. Who is your player of the game?

— Jason Rollison (@jrollisonpgh) August 14, 2016

Baseball Talk Around the Web

• The Marlins lost Giancarlo Stanton for the remainder of the season yesterday due to a groin injury. That’s a huge blow to the Marlins, but Dave Schoenfield of ESPN says the Marlins can still make the playoffs without him. And is Alex Rodriguez now in the mix for Florida?
• Mike Axisa of CBS Sports details the NL playoff picture. Are the Pirates better off than the Cardinals, Marlins, and Mets? Take a look here.
• A-Rod finished his final game in the majors in a seemingly perfect fashion, with an RBI double and exiting the game at third base to a loud roar from the Yankee Stadium crowd on Friday night. Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports breaks down his final game and the emotions that followed it.

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