Edinson Volquez Has Been A Volq of Lightning for Pirates

Edinson Volquez got his first win as a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates

Edinson Volquez got his first win as a Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher. The Pirates blitzkreiged the Brewers by a score of 11-2 by stacking home runs, especially late in the game

Despite the score, the right hander didn’t do it alone. The Bucs provided excellent defense highlighted by Russell Martin erasing two runners on the basepaths. The agressive Brew Crew doesn’t swing and miss much and actually are the best in the league at making contact. Early in the game, the Brewers did plenty of that as they collected six hits off Volquez Power.

Volqtron Force stranded five runners and after the third inning faced the minimum number of Brewers the rest of his outing. In fact, the Pirates staff including relievers Mark Melancon and Bryan Morris faced the minimum over the final six innings.

When interviewed during the game Volquez said he was trying to keep the ball down. He did just that in pitching his best game as a Pirate going seven innings. The key to the outing might have been filling up the count with first pitch strikes and the adjustments made after he noticed the Brewers were attacking the strike zone as they have done so well throughout the first couple weeks of the season.   The Volquez fastball was just unreal and the changeup played well.

How bout this information:

And how bout the fact Volquez retired 20 Brewers with three or less pitches?   Or maybe the Brewers approach did that all on their own.  We think this might be a good template for going after the aggressive hitting Brewers.

The four bombs included homers from Andrew McCutchen who hit a two-run shot into the PNC Park wind to get the Bucs on the board.  With the game tied at two, Josh Harrison was sent to bunt and when he couldn’t get the bunt down, he swung away and crushed a shot into the left field bleachers. Thank God, Clint Hurdle took the pinch hit bunt off, that was a decision the Brewers didn’t do in the seventh inning.

Gaby Sanchez followed with a homer off the left field fair pole and Pedro Alvarez set the final score with a three-run bomb to left center field. Alvarez did a nice job going the other way all throughout the game.

The Pirates are .500 again and the best starter right now is the guy you didn’t give a shot this off season.

As the President of the #VolquezFever Fanclub, I find your lack of faith disturbing, hence the Volquez Fever membership rates will be getting raised again, the VolquezFever shirts are now priced at $85 for mediums, $135 for large, and $150 for xl.   Also, we are fully committed for the VolquezFever members only tailgate next month.  Sorry, you snoozed.