I think I speak for almost every Pirate fan when I say that I know that there were a lot of little things that went into Gerrit Cole’s ugly start against the Reds that weren’t necessarily his fault but that life would seem much sunnier if he turned in an Eff You Gerrit Cole start against the Tigers tonight. It’d be fitting to do it against Justin Verlander, a guy with whom he’s so often compared. Verlander has not looked great in his two starts back from the disabled list. The long and short of it is that the Pirates need wins, and this feels like a game they should win.
So here’s the plan for the evening: USWNT vs. Germany on the TV, Cole vs. Verlander on the iPad, data crunching on the computer. Well, at least two out of three are pretty nice for a random Tuesday night in June.
First pitch is at 7:08.