Before we get into today’s preview game, let’s take a minute and talk about last night’s loss.
It is, of course, true that the Pirates can’t win every game between now and the end of the season. Coming into this nine-game homestand, taking six of the nine games was going to be a good result for the Pirates so long as two of those wins came against the Brewers at the end of it. Losing last night doesn’t prevent that, and it doesn’t even shift the wild card standings since the Brewers and Braves both lost. All that losing last night really did for the Pirates was confirm that they’re not at all likely to win the NL Central, which is something that we’ve known for a while now.
All of this being said, geez, it’s hard to not have a problem with a game where Jeff Locke struggles out of the gate, fails to get out of the sixth inning, leaves with the Pirates still within three runs, and then Brandon Cumpton and Jeanmar Gomez are the first two relievers out of the bullpen. The Pirates have been mostly playing lopsided games the last week, and then in the one game where their newfound bullpen depth could help them, they go and use a bunch of their worst relievers and turn a game that was within reach into an insurmountable deficit.
There’s one other piece of news this morning: the Pirates announced today that Charlie Morton will make a start on Tuesday against the Red Sox. It’s sounded mostly like Morton’s rehab has not gone well and I wouldn’t read into this much as a sign that Morton is going to be a lock for the playoff rotation, should the Pirates need a playoff rotation this year. Instead, I’d guess that there are two purposes here. The first is simply to see what Morton does in a game; even if he’s not 100%, he’s probably not going to be much worse than Vance Worley or Jeff Locke have been lately. The second is that Monday’s off-day and putting Morton into Tuesday’s game will let the Pirates re-shuffle the rotation a bit in anticipation of both the Brewers series next weekend and the potential of a Wild Card game down the road. By my count, if the Pirates kept going with the rotation the way it’s currently lined up, Liriano and Cole would be slotted to start the last two games of the season, which would obviously preclude them from starting the Wild Card Game. I think it’s pretty obvious that those two are the Pirates’ best option to pitch that game, especially since it would appear that if the Pirates do make the Wild Card Game, they’ll be facing either Madison Bumgarner or Clayton Kershaw (that’s the order of likeliness after the Dodgers’ 17-0 thrashing of the Giants last night gave them a two-game lead in the division).
Anyway, the Pirates will look to wash the bad taste of last night out and keep on keeping on with a series win against the Cubs today. Edinson Volquez pitches for the Pirates today. His last two starts have looked pretty similar: sixish innings, five strikeouts, two walks, and a one-run loss for the Pirates. I still think that he’s pitching as well now as he has at any point in the season. If he can avoid throwing a pitch that runs into Javier Baez’s bat today, I think he’ll probably make a solid start. Jacob Turner starts for the Cubs. You likely recall him as the high-priced first-round pick damaged by the Tigers and Marlins’ prospect-rushing philosophy, which resulted in him being unceremoniously dumped off to the Cubs this year. The Cubs have had good luck with a few guys like this in the last couple years, but Turner’s results since pulling on a Cub jersey have been every bit as uneven as they were with the Marlins. After making a few bullpen appearances he’s made three starts: one was disastrous, one was excellent, and one was down the middle of the road. This is his first start against the Pirates this year.
First pitch today is at 1:35.
