Here’s a good way to erase the bad taste from a series loss to the Reds that included a lot of frustrating non-clutch hitting: seven runs on 17 hits without a homer that included a 6-for-15 performance with runners in scoring position. The Pirates absolutely hammered Justin Verlander this afternoon, touching him up for ten hits and all seven of their runs in his 4 2/3 innings of work, making him throw a (frankly insane) 111 pitches in those less-than-five innings of work.
Here’s the best representation of how this game started for the Pirates:
- John Jaso lead off the game with a double.
- After a Francisco Cervelli strikeout to start the second, Gregory Polanco doubled.
- Matt Joyce lead off the third with a double.
- Josh Harrison lead off the fourth with a double.
- After a Matt Joyce pop-out to start the fifth, Starling Marte doubled.
Five innings, five doubles with one or no outs. Almost all of the scoring flowed right out of those doubles; their other five hits off of Verlander were all singles.
For five innings, it looked like Jon Niese was going to turn in his first solid start as a Pirate. He gave up homers to Nick Castellanos and JD Martinez, but not much else, and he missed more bats, like in his debut. He hit a rough patch in the sixth, though, and was again hindered by the Pirate defense (a Jordy Mercer error this time), and so his final line was again less than impressive. Like his first start, though, I think this was encouraging; his fastball velocity looks good, his cutter was effective this afternoon, he got some whiffs with the cutter and the changeup. Niese more or less admitted that his delivery is currently a work in progress, so I’ll continue to give him the benefit of the doubt for now. Hopefully, he’ll get some more defense in his next start, and we’ll be able to start to compile some things for observations.
The good news for Niese today is that the back of the bullpen was easily able to close out the win; Neftali Feliz still hasn’t allowed a base-runner, Tony Watson threw another scoreless inning, and Mark Melancon gave up a lead-off single and immediately erased it with a double play. The weekend was frustrating, but 5-2 is a pretty good start, and 17 hits makes a lot of things seem better.
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