In Jeff Locke’s first start, he threw 80 pitches in six innings and held the Reds to one run despite giving up seven hits. 53 of those 80 pitches were strikes. In Jeff Locke’s second start, he threw 98 pitches and 51 strikes, he walked seven batters including the leadoff hitter in his first four innings, and he didn’t make it out of the fifth inning. The Pirates actually wound up losing both games, but the two starts represent the polar ends of Jeff Locke.
Anyway, he needs to throw strikes tonight. The bullpen continues to be in bad shape for so long as Jared Hughes is in the minors and Arquimedes Caminero is struggling, and his non-stop walking of hitters last time out was probably the most interminably boring baseball thing I’ve watched happen live in a while and I can’t even imagine it happening in a game that starts at 10 PM.
Locke faces Drew Pomeranz tonight. The Pirates should probably win this series, but they obviously did themselves no favors last night.
