The Pittsburgh Pirates make a return to Interleague play and will face the Detroit Tigers for three games on the road. The Tigers won two of three games that were played at PNC Park. Gerrit Cole will start for the Pirates against Justin Verlander.
Cole is 6-1 with a 2.81 ERA in eight career starts against American League opponents including two victories this season. He pitched six-plus innings allowing a run against the Tigers this season. The outing was on the Pirates home opening day and Cole suffered his first loss.
Since May 15, in his last start against the Cincinnati Reds. He allowed five runs on eight hits in 4.2 innings and called the outing his “worst of the season”.
Verlander has made two starts this season and lost his last outing against the New York Yankees. In the appearance, he allowed six runs on 10 hits in 6.2 innings. He is 4-1 with a 3.00 ERA in five starts against the Pirates. Two of those starts were complete games.
Cole examines Verlander: Coming into the major leagues, Cole was compared to Verlander. Verlander is a pitcher that gets stronger as the game continues and can increase velocity with his pitches.
“As the game goes along and the situation may dictate for some more adrenaline,” Cole said. “We play tight ballgames here where the situation calls to put your foot down or find another gear. It’s not a conscious effort to save your bullets for later in the game because the last thing you want to do is be quick on the draw. I think it’s why you train hard and put your body in the position so you feel you can go out at 80 or 85 percent and flip it to that 100 percent whether it’s early in the game to get out of that jam or late in the game to keep them back down.”
Though Cole has never met nor had the opportunity to interact with Verlander, he takes the comparison as a compliment.
“I think any pitcher in the game can tell you that when Verlander’s clicking on all cylinders, then there’s not a lot of parts of that game that you don’t like,” said Cole. “Everybody can at least pull something and try to emulate something of his. He was on top for a while and not to say he can’t get back there, it may happen Tuesday. He’s very good, it’s really special to be compared to someone that special and that good.”
Seventh inning stretch: This series is a homecoming of sorts for manager Clint Hurdle. Hurdle was born in Big Rapids, MI, and as a kid remembered listening to the late broadcaster Ernie Harwell call games during the summer.
Hurdle reflected on his unforgettable experience with Harwell, a moment which brought a smile to his face.
“One of my best trips here was spending an afternoon in the Detroit Free Public Library with Ernie Harwell and Don Baylor going through Ernie’s part of the museum,” Hurdle said. “We spent three hours there. I listened to Ernie as a kid in the summer. It’s special here for me and it always will. I left 50 or 60 tickets my first game here as a player in the big leagues.”
Top of the ninth: This series serves as the annual father’s trip. Fathers of each player were invited to the trip. There were some that were in the clubhouse to support their sons. Hurdle’s father has been a fixture of the pregame press conference for a few days now.
“I think showing our dads what our life is like up here,” Chris Stewart said. “A lot of our dads were strong influences in our lives growing up and one of the main reasons we’re here today is that they instilled the love of the game in us, instilled the hard work on us and it’s nice to share that feeling with them of being in the big leagues.”
Brad Fischer will serve as the first base coach for this series as Nick Leyva did not make the trip for personal reasons… Starling Marte enters today’s game ranked second among National League left fielders with 12 home runs. Additionally he has a five-game hitting streaking and is hitting .412 during the stretch… The Pirates are 5-4 against AL teams this season and are 20-21 against the Tigers with a 6-13 road mark… Hurdle stated Deolis Guerra will replace Rob Scahill’s skill set which is why he stayed with the team instead of Chris Volstad… Miguel Cabrera has 2,546 total bases as a member of the Tigers and is three bases away from tying Willie Horton for 11th in team history… The Tigers are 7-7 in Interleague play this season but have a 112-68 record during Interleague play since 2006 which is the second best mark in all of baseball.
Photo courtesy: Gene J. Puskar/AP
