RECAP - Pirates - 3 / Padres - 1

The Pirates' Offense Needs "El Toro" To Heat Up

Pittsburgh Pirates - 3
San Diego Padres - 1

WP - Francisco Liriano
LP - Cashner

The Pirates had dropped 7 of their last 9 games.  Not a very good statistic in any stretch of the baseball fan's imagination.  If you could throw ONE PITCHER out there to stop the bleeding...who would it be?  I would expect 99% of Pirates fans to say Francisco Liriano (the other 1% would still probably say AJ Burnett), and Liriano got the ball and what a performance he displayed in San Diego.  13 strikeouts.  Thats right, 13 strikeouts.  There are pitchers that go a whole month without 13 strikeouts, and Liriano did that in one game.  Tony Sanchez said his fastball had more zip on it than normal, and his slider was really snapping...the slider was his go to "out" pitch against the "batting brothers" from San Diego. 

With the good comes the bad though.  After all, this win was far from perfect.  The Pirates bats were silenced once again, and if it wasn't for a horrendous error by the Padres RF Chris Denorfia the Pirates would have been in a one run pitching duel.  The Pirates scored 2 runs on that error, and otherwise were held to 5 hits.  Believe it or not, the Pirates were out hit 6 to 5 by the Padres.  Yep, 11 total hits in the game.  Hold onto your seats fans there are going to be some runs scored...just a HINT of sarcasm there.  If it weren't for Andrew McCutchen and Pedro Alvarez, the Pirates would have been absolutely silenced at the plate.  "Cutch" and "El Toro" combined for 4 of the 5 Pirates hits, with Tony Sanchez cashing in on the 5th.  McCutchen notched ANOTHER multi-hit game, and that is something that he Pirates NEED at this point.  Plain and simple, the offensive out put has been down right offensive (nice play on words there right?). 

This is a crucial stretch for the Pirates, and don't think this team doesn't know it.  Not only are wins needed, but certain players need to start performing to their capabilities.  That starts with AJ Burnett climbing on the mound tonight.  AJ has collapsed and blown big leads in his last 2 starts.  Its time that he proves he isn't going to collapse late in the season, which was the "rap" on him throughout his career.  Jeff Locke will take the mound (unless Hurdle bumps back, or skips his start) and needs to rectify himself as a guy who isn't the "weak link" in the rotation.  Will Gerrit Cole and Charlie Morton continue to be solid, but not outstanding pitchers that will give their team every chance to win?  Notice the players that need redemption are all pitchers.  The reason for that is simple...this offense needs pitchers to keep opposing teams close because scoring runs doesn't come easy...not easy at all.  Its AJ's turn to re-insert himself as a solid #2 pitcher in the rotation.