Pittsburgh Pirates Wake-Up Call – fear Arrieta

Welcome to the Pittsburgh Pirates Wake-Up Call, a daily feature here at RumBunter.com. Every morning at 9 AM, one of us will give you our random thoughts on the goings-on around the Pirates’ organization, and we’ll throw out a few links to some good Pirates-related items your way from around the web as well.

Facing Arrieta in Wild Card is getting scarier by the minute

Lost in the long game last night was the continued dominance of Jake Arrieta, who the Pirates would more than likely face in a potential Wild Card game. This is the fourth start against the Pirates this season in which Arrieta’s lasted at least seven innings and has given up one run or less. Out of every pitcher that the Pirates could face in the postseason, not just in the Wild Card game, Arrieta could very well be their most dangerous foe. Last night, Arrieta gave up a few hits, but the Pirates couldn’t knock in runners when they had the opportunity to. He was able to locate his curveball and when he’s able to do that, opposite his 95+ mph fastball, he’s as tough as they get.

More from Pirates News

• Pittsburgh Pirates Add Left-Handed Reliever Via Rule 5 Draft
• Pittsburgh Pirates: Bold Strategy to Start at Second Base
• Pittsburgh Pirates Sign Pitcher Vince Velasquez
• Pittsburgh Pirates News: Bucs Sign LHP Reliever Jarlin Garcia
• Pittsburgh Pirates: The First MLB Draft Lottery is Tonight

The NL Central race

It’s amazing how the NL Central can seem so winnable one day and a seemingly impossible task yet again the next. The Pirates were just two games back of the Cardinals after the first game of the double-header on Tuesday, and now sit four games back after last night’s loss. The Pirates do still have three games left with the Cardinals, and a sweep would put them one game back. And they made up four games in the span of a week recently. But it will take some serious magic or a few days where everything goes the Pirates way and against the Cardinals for the division to be had. A four game deficit with 17 games left? Clearly not impossible, but very difficult nonetheless, especially when the Pirates are chasing the best team in baseball. But hey, stranger things have happened.

Around the net

Contrary to what many Pirates probably would have wanted the Pirates’ manager to say, Clint Hurdle stood by his Tuesday night lineup in the second game of the double header. If you want to read more about what he said, check out this article from the Tribune-Review here.

Make sure to check out CBS Sports’ latest award watch list for the NL Cy Young, NL Rookie of the Year, and NL Manager of the Year. Yes, Gerrit Cole, Jung Ho Kang, and Clint Hurdle are mentioned in each of those.

And with yesterday being Robert Clemente Day, check out this piece from ESPN displaying the life and baseball career of Clemente in photos.

The Pirates have to salvage the last game of the series tomorrow. With Charlie Morton on the mound, that could be a tall order. But when he’s on, he can be electric. Here’s hoping for a series split tomorrow.

Next: Are the 2015 Pittsburgh Pirates Neal Huntington's best work?