Pittsburgh Pirates series recap: Pirates vs. Braves

The Pittsburgh Pirates 10 game road trip continued to be a successful one as the Buccos swept the defending champion, San Francisco Giants. The sweep isn’t adequate revenge for the Wild Card Game loss, but it still felt great to go into San Francisco and beat the Giants in three straight games. The Pirates then faced the surprisingly decent Atlanta Braves in a 3 game series to end the road trip.

Game One: Charlie Morton (2-0, 1.93ERA) vs. Williams Perez (1-0, 2.66ERA)

Game result: Pirates win 10-8

Winning pitcher: Charlie Morton (3-0, 2.84ERA)

Losing pitcher: Luis Avilan (2-1, 3.32ERA)

Save: Mark Melancon (17)

• What went right:
  • Francisco Cervelli had his best game as a Pirate. Going 4-5 with 2 RBI and a run scored.
  • Andrew McCutchen continued his hot streak. Going 2-5 with 1 RBI and a run scored.
  • Starling Marte busted out of his slump. Going 2-3 with a a HR and 3 RBIs.
  • Gregory Polanco continued his hot streak. Going 2-4 with 2 stolen bases and 2 runs scored.

What went wrong

:

Charlie Morton didn’t have his best stuff. He struggled through 5 innings, allowing 4 runs (3 earned) on 7 hits.

Pirates in-field defense was atrocious as they committed 4 errors and let the Braves back in the game several different times.

Mark Melancon committed a terrible error on a routine double play ball and let the Braves make the 9

th

inning way more interesting than it had to be.

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Game Two: Jeff Locke (3-3, 5.34ERA) vs. Julio Teheran (4-2, 4.87ERA)

Game result: Pirates lose 5-4

Winning Pitcher: Jason Grilli (1-2, 3.93ERA)

Losing Pitcher: Vance Worley (2-4, 3.83ERA)

• What went right:
  • Andrew McCutchen just keeps on destroying baseballs. Going 1-4 with a 2-run HR.
  • Gregory Polanco went 3-4 with 2 RBI and a run scored.
  • Jeff Locke kept the Pirates in the game. Which is pretty much all you can ask from a 5^th starter. He went 6.1 innings, allowing 4 runs on 7 hits and striking out 4.
  • Antonio Bastardo and Jared Hughes did a good job out of the bullpen. Going 1.2 innings, allowing 0 runs on 1 hit.

• What went wrong:
  • Jeff Locke had a massive brain fart in the 4^th inning. Allowing Jonny Gomes to steal 2^nd base and eventually score the go-ahead run.
  • Christian Bethancourt had probably his best game as a pro. Going 3-4 with 2 RBI, including the game winning walk-off home run in the bottom of the 9^th inning.
  • Vance Worley threw 1 pitch in relief…yeah. Let’s move on.
  • Jason Grilli had an easy 6 pitch top of the 9^th inning. Including a strike out of Josh Harrison.

Game Three: Gerrit Cole (8-2, 1.90ERA) vs. Alex Wood (4-2, 3.19ERA)

Game result: Pirates win 3-0

Winning Pitcher: Gerrit Cole (9-2. 1.73ERA)

Losing Pitcher: Alex Wood (4-3, 3.36ERA)

Save: Mark Melancon (18, 2.28ERA)

• What went right:
  • Gerrit Cole was an ace again. He didn’t have his best stuff, but his stuff was good enough to go 7 innings, allowing 0 runs on 6 hits and striking out 7.
  • Josh Harrison was a table setter at the top of the line-up. Going 3-4 with a run scored.
  • Starling Marte had a clutch 2-out bases loaded hit to score the games first 2 runs.
  • Mark Melancon was stellar again. Picking up his 18^th save of the season and lowering his ERA to 2.28.

• What went wrong:
  • Cameron Maybin was a Pirate killer. Going 3-5.
  • Juan Uribe had 2 hits.
  • Gerrit Cole had some control issues. Walking 3 batters and hitting 2 more.
  • Outside of the 5^th inning, the Pirates offense was mostly held in check by the Braves pitching staff.

Series Result: Pirates win 2-1

2015 win/loss record: 31-25

2015 series record: 8-7-3

Next: Pirates MLB Draft Preview