Baseball is a game where several elements can change the outcome of a game at any time. Saturday was one of those cases where the Pittsburgh Pirates did not do much right falling 6-0 to the Washington Nationals.
This series loss is the first since June 20-23 against the San Francisco Giants and it was poor play all around which cost the Pirates.
Strike one: Indifferent fielding/base running
The image I will take from this game came in the fourth inning. By that point, this game had already been decided, with the worst still to come.
Sean Rodriguez was called out on strikes and Jung Ho Kang was attempting to steal second base. There was one problem though as Kang stopped running and all Stephen Drew had to do was tag him out. Forgetting how many outs there are, which in this case was two when Rodriguez struck out, is unacceptable in any level of baseball but for the Pirates par for the course.
But this is not all just on Kang, who has not been anywhere close to himself for the past month. After all, he was not the only one who committed a mental gaffe.
Andrew McCutchen has become a more knowledgeable defender throughout his career. The argument could still be made that he has no business playing center field, but he seems to have gotten over missing cut-off men, an issue which plagued him last year.
What does irritate me concerning McCutchen is his frequent attempted dives, most of which do not turn out for the better. When McCutchen does not have the play measured up, it looks like a rather moronic decision.
Drew’s second-inning double, one of three from him on the night, was perfect proof of that. It was rather clear that the ball was dropping for a single that McCutchen could pick up and hold to a single. It is such a low-percentage play to try and trap the ball, so it was rather predictable when Drew advanced 90 feet.
Josh Harrison was also guilty of trying to make a hero play in the disastrous fourth inning. He tried ranging to his left for a ground ball from Nationals pitcher Tanner Roark. One run was guarantee to score on the play but Harrison’s spinning throw, which was made in an effort to get Roark out sailed wide of target allowing a second run to score. It was a play which had an unnecessary higher degree of difficulty and easily could have done without the throw to first.
Sure, there were two great first inning defensive gems with Starling Marte throwing out Bryce Harper at third base and Rodriguez making a diving catch while facing the right-center field wall, both game-saving plays at the time, but there was not much else to like defensively.
Strike two: Gerrit Cole was not sharp
Cole was making his first start with the Pirates since June 10. It appeared his outing would get off to a good start when he caught Ben Revere looking with a fastball on the inside corner but instead walked Jayson Werth on a similar pitch, allowed Harper to single, allowed an Anthony Rendon single and a hard hit ball by Clint Robinson.
Were it not for Marte and Rodriguez’s outfield gems, this outing would have been a total disaster.
Cole (5-5) set himself up for failure with pitches being left up in the zone or close to the middle of the plate and he allowed seven hits to go with two walks in four innings of work. Cole was stretched out to 80 pitches in the outing.
If you ask Cole, he will blame himself for the outing, but it is to be expected that with a powerful offensive lineup as his first opponent back from a right triceps strain, struggles would be a possibility.
He is strike two because the mental letdowns were consistently more disappointing for the Pirates than Cole.
Strike three: Pirates offense could not solve Tanner Roark
Sometimes when a pitcher is not on, it is hard to find a rhythm. There is a reason why Roark is 9-5 and the Nationals 9-2 in his last 11 starts.
Roark held the Pirates to five hits in 8-plus innings, his lowest total since May 30. Roark only departed the game after allowing a John Jaso single and hitting Starling Marte with a pitch. When Roark departed, his game score was at an 81 and the high point featured 10 consecutive Pirates hitters retired.
During the June swoon, the Pirates consistently had to tip their hats to the opposing starting pitcher. This weekend has been no different.
Top of the ninth:
Cole was called up prior to Saturday’s game with Josh Bell being sent back down to Triple-A Indianapolis as the corresponding move… In Sunday’s series finale, Chad Kuhl (1-1, 6.08 ERA) will face Max Scherzer (10-6, 3.03 ERA). Kuhl’s last start was a no-decision in which he allowed four runs on seven hits in 2.1 innings last Sunday against the Chicago Cubs. The last time Scherzer faced the Pirates at Nationals Park, this happened.
