I made the decision to come back to PA for the Fourth this weekend pretty late, so I knew when I decided to come that I’d be seeing Jeff Locke in person on Saturday. I was a bit worried about this; it’s never fun to make the trip home and then to see a baseball game that’s over before it starts or that takes 3+ hours because the starter threw 95 pitches in four innings.
We got a different Locke yesterday, though, as is already pretty obvious to anyone that saw yesterday’s game. Locke was throwing a bunch of fastballs with a lot of movement to get ahead in counts, and then using his changeup and curveball to keep hitters off balance. When he finished the eighth inning with 89 pitches I thought he was going to have a shot at a Maddux — a CG SHO in fewer than 100 pitches — though I think that Clint Hurdle didn’t really make the wrong choice in bringing Mark Melancon on to close the game out.
When Hurdle talked about the decision after the game he said he wasn’t sure he’d made the right decision, but that he felt a bit more comfortable with Melancon closing out a one-run lead than he did with Locke. I think there was probably a bit more to it than that. Locke rarely goes very far above 90 pitches this year (he hasn’t gone over 100 since late May), and he was sitting at 89 yesterday. With 8-9-1 due up, he was going to see at least one right-handed pinch-hitter in the nine spot, then Jason Kipnis would get a third look at him. Locke looked great, but 1-0 leads tend to disappear quickly no matter how good a starter has been. With Melancon out there, Hurdle could be relatively sure that Melancon would see a left-handed pinch-hitter (he ended up seeing two, with Michael Bourn hitting for Mike Aviles to start the ninth), then Kipnis, then Francisco Lindor. That made for four lefties to start the inning against Melancon, who has a reverse right-left split. In effect, I think what Hurdle was choosing by putting Melancon on the mound over Locke in the ninth was choosing Melancon vs. lefties over Locke vs. righties and Kipnis for a third time. I’m sure that’s a really tough choice to make with Locke right in front of you throwing the game of his life (it certainly confused most of us up in the stands), but I think it was the right call. The Pirates don’t have a huge margin for error right now and Hurdle made the move that was most likely to result in a Pirate win yesterday.
Anyway, Locke’s gem gave the Pirates a chance to win this series with Gerrit Cole on the mound this afternoon. In my mind I have this image that Cole had a slightly lackluster June after the way he charged out of the gate, but Cole went 4-1 in June with a 2.35 ERA in five starts with 38 strikeouts, 11 walks, and two homers allowed in 38 1/3 innings. It has been a while since he’s turned in a baldly dominant start and June did see him walk three hitters in three different starts, which was something he didn’t do at any point in April or May. This is his last tune-up start before the Cardinals next weekend, so I’d really love to see him turn in a start to match Locke’s this afternoon.
Anyway, today’s first pitch is at 1:35 and I’ve gotta go so that I’ll be in a spot in which I can have reception to listen to the game while I’m driving today.
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