The Pittsburgh Pirates dropped two of three road games against the San Diego Padres.
There certainly were some things to like and things that were not so favorable. Here are just a few of each.
Jeff Locke does not have a finishing pitch
Anytime you are a pitcher who does not have blow-it-by-you velocity, you have to paint corners and find other ways to succeed.
Add that inability to inconsistent performance and a lack of confidence from fans, and you have Jeff Locke.
Locke was able to get through the first inning but had so many two-strike counts in the second inning that he squandered. He does not have an out pitch.
This resulted in four runs. Locke was gone after three innings, having already thrown 85 pitches and allowed eight runs on 11 hits. That is terrible. No excuses.
It is no secret that the majority of the fan base had already lost faith in Locke, and outings such as that do not help things.
I do not think Locke doesn’t trust his stuff, though, with a new delivery, it takes time to adjust. But the Pirates’ patience is running out, and reinforcements are coming.
Justin Masterson’s signing should be a warning to Locke: Perform, or your starting spot is gone.
Two things did the Pirates in on Tuesday
The first was Francisco Liriano struggling to locate. His outing Friday, to me, was very similar to the Cincinnati Reds game prior to his injury.
Liriano was missing all of his fast pitches up in the zone, and he could not locate his off-speed offerings. It cost him toward the end.
It was clear from the first batter that Liriano was not ready for this game, and he tried to get one more inning in so he could be in line for a win.
Instead, he got one out followed by a single and a home run.
Bye bye lead, and so long victory. (It took Pirates starting pitching until the third and final game to get a start even through five innings, with Gerrit Cole last night.)
The Padres were able to do what the Pirates normally do: see pitches and knock Liriano out early because he could not locate.
Things went from bad to worse when Arquimedes Caminero came into the game. Even he could not get out of the fifth inning.
Caminero immediately allowed a solo home run, then struck out a batter and walked two Padres. Hurdle has seen this before.
After all, Caminero’s is rather straight with pitches, just hard, leaving him little margin for error.
It may not necessarily take much for Caminero to get back to what fans saw in 2015, but he certainly is one of the main liabilities right now on this roster.
His outing is what ensured the Pirates would lose this game.
Cole back aboard the train
Something about the West Coast seems to inspire Cole, and it is not just that he is from there.
In 2014, Cole’s season appeared out of sorts, but being back home on the West Coast seemed to inspire him.
That stretch was when he discovered how to be an ace. He already had the tools, but it seemed Cole finally believed.
Normally, a trip back home makes someone nervous, but Cole appears to thrive.
This was again the case Thursday as he pitched six shutout innings and allowed four hits while striking out seven batters.
Cole really needed this outing, and it shows he is healthy and ready to once again take on the responsibility of being the ace of staff.
The Pirates seemed to feed off Cole’s success on the offensive end, and it became contagious, to the tune of 11 runs on 11 hits.
Cole is a very emotional pitcher, and when he is doing well the Pirates feed off the energy.
He came into the start with an 0-2 record and a 4.22 ERA. Cole knows he is a better pitcher than that.
It was all about shaking the rust off. Instead of panicking about the losses, Cole kept things in perspective.
He came into Spring Training injured, and as a result got a late start. That pushed back his outings and also meant it took longer to get to higher pitch counts.
So forget his first two outings. Thursday was Cole’s Opening Day, and what a great first impression he made.
