Over the past two seasons, the Pirates have made some moves to bolster their starting rotation. Before last season started, they acquired A.J. Burnett from the New York Yankees. Then half way through last season, they picked up Wandy Rodriguez from the Houston Astros. So far this season, those two have combined to be one of the best one-two punches in all of baseball.
A.J. Burnett has a phenomenal season last year as he went 16-10 with a 3.51 earned run average. So far this season he has had four starts and has gone 1-2. He hasn’t had much run support in his starts and his record should be better than it is. Burnett’s ERA is a mere 2.63, and he has accumulated 35 strikeouts in those four starts. In his last start, he had a strong seven innings and only allowed one hit. Hopefully he can keep this up for the rest of a long season and help the Pirates get that first winning season in what seems like forever.
Last year, Rodriguez made 12 starts for the Buccos and went 5-4 with a 3.72 ERA. Wandy was hurt early this season when he had tightness in his start against the Arizona Diamondbacks. But in three starts, he is 2-0 with an earned run average of an unthinkable 0.53. He is proving that he is the ace of the staff and that he can pitch for any team. Staying healthy will be a key for him the rest of the way so he can keep contributing. Rodriguez is comfortable in Pittsburgh and that started to show late last year. Having him for a full season will be very instrumental to the team making a run for the playoffs.
The Buccos are expecting to get Jeff Karstens and Fransisco Liriano back in the coming weeks. They are both proven starters in the big leagues. Adding them to a rotation of Burnett, Rodriguez, and James McDonald should boast well for the Pirates. This is without a doubt the best rotation the Pirates have had in quite some time. Having two guys like Burnett and Rodriguez at the top of that rotation will be huge come August and September.
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