Pirates GM Neal Huntington spoke about his thoughts on the Pirates first half of the season. The team started off slow going 10-18 in their first 28 games, but recovered to go 32-22 in the past 54 contests. Huntington attributes some of the success to the Pirate offense that leads all National League teams with a .350 on-base percentage, ranked second in batting average (.270) and fourth in runs scored (128).
“Our offense for really the last seven weeks has been very productive and, especially as of late when we can get everybody on the field at the same time, they can do some damage and make some starters work,” said Huntington.
The team’s pitching staff has made some positive strides since starting the season slowly. Injuries to Gerrit Cole and Francisco Liriano and the departure of Wandy Rodriguez should have been the downfall that knocked the team out of playoff contention, but a supporting cast up from AAA has kept things calm.
“Our starting pitching, Vance Worley, Jeff Locke and the recently optioned Brandon Cumpton has done a terrific job for us putting us in a position to win pretty much every game they have gone out there,” said Huntington. “We get Gerrit Cole back sharp and strong. We get Francisco Liriano back sharp and strong. Charlie has kept us in every game. If we can get Charlie to flip it a little bit and be great early, we get a chance to get on a roll here.”
Cole has made his rehab and since returned to the rotation and Huntington believes Liriano isn’t too far behind.
“[Liriano] came through his side session very well. Next step would be a sim game to start out his buildup program and looking forward to getting him going, but he came through the side today really well. I believe it was a 52 pitch side, so again a more aggressive side than he’d typically throw, but it’s part of the buildup process. It was 50+ pitches [Sunday].”
With the Pirates main pieces coming off the DL and the offense hitting at full-capacity, it could make for another interesting summer in the City of Pittsburgh.
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