Takeaways and Throwaways – Cutch, Jaso Blast Bucs Past Rockies

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FINAL: Pittsburgh Pirates 5, Colorado Rockies 2

W – Gerrit Cole (4-6, 4.54 ERA) L – Adam Ottavino (0-1, 3.13 ERA)  

Takeaways

• Andrew McCutchen continues to rake. He blasted two home runs on Tuesday night for the 13th multi-home run game of his career. Ever since his average fell to .200 on May 23, it’s only gone up since. McCutchen is hitting .400 (26-65) since with five of his 11 home runs on the season coming in these past 18 games. McCutchen’s solo homer in the fourth inning on Tuesday extended his hitting streak to five games. The five-time All-Star has now collected at least one hit in 16 of his past 18 games.
• John Jaso collected his second pinch-hit home run of the season in the seventh to give the Pirates a 3-1 lead that they would hold onto to win. Jaso is now 6-15 (.375) at a pinch-hitter with three walks in addition to those two home runs. The 33-year-old is hitting .375 over his last nine games and has impressed with his ability to come off the bench and deliver. Jaso hasn’t started any of the last five games, but could start getting more opportunities because of his bat.
• Gerrit Cole had a nice bounceback outing after four consecutive forgettable starts. He tossed seven solid innings and didn’t surrender at least four runs in a start for the first time since May 17. Ironically, that was also the last time that Cole threw seven innings in a start. Cole has now only pitched seven innings five times this season. Tuesday night, Cole had a confidence-building performance.

Throwaways

• With Trevor Story at first on a two-out walk in the fifth, Tony Wolters singled to shallow left field. As Story, who took off on the first pitch, rounded second, left fielder Adam Frazier took his time getting to the ball. Story never stopped running and scored after Frazier threw to shortstop Jordy Mercer, instead of directly to catcher Elias Diaz. Mercer relayed to Diaz and his strong throw nearly got Story, but he slid just past the tag. Had Frazier thrown directly home, Story is either out or holds up at third. With pitcher Tyler Chatwood up next, Cole likely would have gotten out of the jam.
• In addition to defensive issues on Tuesday night, Frazier also continued his recent slump at the plate. He went 0-4 with three strikeouts and dropped his average to .288. It’s still solid, but Frazier is hitting .215 over his last 21 games since lifting his average to .369 on May 21. Frazier is only in his second big-league season, so struggles with ending slumps are understandable. Perhaps a couple days off would help him set him back on track.
• Felipe Rivero, in a non-save situation, gave up a run in the ninth inning. Rare is the occasion in which Rivero surrenders an earned run, it’s only happened three times, but he’s not going to be perfect every time out.

 Line of the Day

Up Next

The Pirates go for the three-game sweep tomorrow at 7:05 from PNC Park. Chad Kuhl (1-5, 5.63 ERA) of the Pirates opposes German Marquez (4-3, 4.44 ERA) of the Rockies. Kuhl isn’t quite pitching for his job because Tyler Glasnow was optioned to Triple-A last week to make room for Jameson Taillon upon his return. However, Kuhl to continue his recent strong outing after  The Pirates hope to take advantage of another Rockies rookie starter in Marquez, one of four in their five-man rotation.

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