Pirates Getting Big Time Production From Cleanup Spot

The Pittsburgh Pirates lineup has been doing good things on offense, but nothing opens the eyes of the ladies than the longball.  Or even the long double.  The Pirates are getting above average production from their clean-up hitters.

The Bucs cleanup hitters head into tonights confident in their abilities after getting off to a hot start.  The matchup in Philly features Wandy Rodriguez and Roy Halladay on the mound.  With Wandy pitching the best he has in quite some time,  but the wind blowing out of Citizens Bank Park tonight it’s safe to think that the Bucs can hit a few long balls.

The Buccos clean-up hitters have the second-best batting average (.338) and slugging percentage (.549) and it all adds up to the third-best OPS (.944) and on-base percentage (.395) among all teams on the Senior Circuit.

The big guy doing the heavy lifting has been Garrett Freakin’ Jones.  The manchild doubled in his last at bat on Monday and has now hit safely in eight of his last nine contests.   GFJ is also hitting .359 going 14-for-39 while in the cleanup spot in Clint Hurdles lineup.

Jones ranks second among all National League hitters with a minimum of 35 at-bats which trails only Adrian Gonzalez who is hitting .369.