Pittsburgh Pirates Caffeine: Ciriaco, Hague, Fox, Diaz in Action

Toros

reliever Jose Diaz got the zeros back as he pitched another scoreless inning.  Matt Hague was unable to get a hit and has just one in his past 15 at-bats. Pedro Ciriaco had a leadoff double in the second and scored a run in a 5-2 Toros victory.  It was the first extra base hit in 46 at-bats for the infielder.

We watched video of the game on the Toros site and noticed a couple things.

Jake Fox didn’t seem realy noticeable at catcher.  Guess that’s a good thing.  He had a walk.  He made a nice play at the plate to tag out Pedro Ciriaco.

Ciriaco could make the Bucs roster, but he really needs to show more awareness at the plate.  As you know, he is very agressive.

Hague looked ok defensively at first base.

Hague looked sluggish at the plate, but perhaps it’s the near Mendoza line slump over his past ten games that is wearing on him. It was noticeable late in the game when he grounded out to the pitcher.  Heh, slumps happen, but for Hague who needs a strong offseason, it must really suck.

Diaz is huge and he plays that way.  He gets off the mound well for such a big dude.  His pitch selection seemed like fastball slider exclusively and his slider is a nice option for the right hander.  He got a couple of ground outs and a fly out.  On the last out, he pumped his chest and pointed to the sky as Hague touched the first base bag.

It was the sixth hold of the year for Diaz.  He is going to be fun to watch this spring.