Some games your starter just doesn’t have it. Even a guy, who up until this point had allowed three runs or less in his first seven starts on the season, is bound to have a little bit of an off day; although this start did not have any the markings of such an occurrence, other than in the earned run department. The velocity, control/command and execution were all there; while some calls didn’t go his way, forcing him into the zone more than he was comfortable with. This was when the Cardinals made him pay; well sort of.
Nolan Arenado is one of MLB’s best, and he proved it again on Tuesday Night by tracking Brubaker’s pitch as it was tailing away from him, and muscling it over the the left centerfield wall for a two run homer. It wasn’t a bad pitch, with a bad location, Arenado just bested him. Next was Tommy Edman’s bloop, pop up two run single, that Brubaker himself had notched as the third out of the inning by his reaction after the contact. Now the fifth run was clearly all on him, as his pitch drifted up into the meat of plate and was promptly smacked for a double by Edmundo Sosa.
Following these errors and misfortunes, Brubaker would retire 9 of the next 11 batters he would face, before ultimately being replaced by Chasen Shreve in the bottom of the sixth. However, at this point the damage had already been done; and we have all seen how difficult it has been most of the time for the Pirates to pull off a come from behind victory.
In the end, the Pirates bats didn’t put up much of a fight, as they fell to the Cardinals 5-2 in the first of this short two game series.
News and Notes
- Kevin Newman and Gregory Polanco each collected two hits on the night, which was nice to see. Still, only Adam Frazier and Erik Gonzalez would add to this, for a total of six hits on the evening for Pittsburgh.
- Nolan Arenado homered in his fourth straight game with his first inning blast off Brubaker. It was his sixth home run in May. The number of Pirates home runs in May also sits at six.
- Will Craig is 3 for 19 with 10 strikeouts since being called up from AAA-Indianapolis. I have no issue with giving the kid a look, but I can’t imagine it lasts much longer.
- Chris Stratton has posted a 1.80 ERA over his last 7 appearances, across 10 innings of work. During that time he has 9 strike outs and a 1.27 WHIP. Just making note of this as I haven’t seen his name in as many trade conversations lately.
- Some of the biggest news I saw for the Pirates Organization did not come out of St. Louis last night; and involved one of Pittsburgh’s Top Prospects, Travis Swaggerty.
The Pirates and Cardinals will be back at it tonight at 7:45 PM EST, once again from Busch Stadium, as Pittsburgh continues to look for their first win over St. Louis this season.
Trevor Cahill (1-4, 5.97 ERA) takes the ball to face off against Jack Flaherty (7-0, 2.47 ERA).
Inside The Bucs Basement 