Is there any sight in baseball better for a Pirate fan than Gerrit Cole on the mound, pumping 98 mph fastballs in the ninth inning? If that’s not enough to jump-start a baseball team, I don’t know what is.
This Pirates/Mets series is an embarrassment of pitching riches; after last night’s awesome Cole/Syndergaard matchup, Matt Harvey and AJ Burnett will take the mound this afternoon. In Burnett’s last five starts, he’s allowed four earned runs (five runs in total) over 34 innings with 27 strikeouts, 13 walks, and just 23 hits. I don’t think is 1.38 ERA on the season or his 1.06 ERA in that span is sustainable, but the Pirates signed Burnett to be an innings-eater and they’ve gotten something much better than that thus far. The Mets, meanwhile, send Matt Harvey to the mound. Harvey is having one of the best returns from Tommy John surgery that I can ever remember. In effect, he’s been exactly the same pitcher that he was in 2013 before missing all of last year with the TJ. He’s been practically unhittable in May: four starts, 28 innings, 25 strikeouts, 5 walks, 20 hits, and a 0.96 ERA. The thought of this Pirate lineup facing Harvey is pretty scary, though they did OK against Syndergaard last night.
I said on Friday that the Pirates were on the clock to turn their season around. I think wins over Syndergaard and Harvey would be an awful good way to jump-start that turnaround. First pitch today is at 4:05.
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