Pittsburgh Pirates Lose Third Consecutive Game

The Pittsburgh Pirates have now lost three consecutive games

The recent struggles of the Pittsburgh Pirates continued on Thursday night. After winning 2 out of 3 games in New York last weekend, the Pirates have now lost 3 consecutive games. Their most recent loss came in game 1 of their 4 game weekend series with the Miami Marlins.

On Thursday night, the Pittsburgh Pirates got blown out by a score of 7-1. With the loss, the Pirates are now 26-34 on the season. The Bucs are now a season high tying 8 games under .500 on the season.

Gerrit Cole‘s recent struggles continued on Thursday night.

In the top of the 1st inning, the Marlins struck quickly. Dee Gordon recorded a bunt single, Giancarlo Stanton walked, and Christian Yelich hit a double to make it 1-0 Pirates. After recording a pair of strikeouts, Cole gave up a double to Derek Dietrich that made it 3-0 Miami.

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The Pittsburgh Pirates would threaten in the bottom of the 1st inning. With 1-out, Josh Harrison recorded a bunt single. Then with 2-outs, ex-Pirate Edinson Volquez walked David Freese and hit John Jaso with a pitch to load the bases with 2 outs. However, Andrew McCutchen then struck out looking to end the Pirate threat.

Miami would add to their lead in the top of the 4th inning. Derek Dietrich and Tyler Moore hit back-to-back doubles to start the inning, extending the Marlins’ lead to a score of 4-0.

In the top of the 5th inning, the wheels completely came off for Gerrit Cole. The Marlins would score 3 more runs to extend their lead to 7-0, leading to Cole getting pulled with just 2 outs in the inning. Jhan Marinez would record the final out of the 5th inning and then pitch a scoreless 6th and 7th inning.

In 4 2/3 innings pitched, Cole allowed 7 runs on 11 hits. He walked a batter, did not allow a home run, and struck out 5. This was the fourth consecutive poor start for Cole, despite continuing to have good stuff.

Location has continued to be an issue for Gerrit Cole. Too many times he missed Elias Diaz‘s gloves, leading to pitches getting hit hard. This is a problem that Cole needs to solve and fast.

Ex-Pirate Edinson Volquez was in control all night long for the Miami Marlins. In 7 innings of work he kept the Pirates scoreless and allowed just 3 hits. He walked 2 batters, hit a batter, and struck out 8.

Daniel Hudson pitched the 8th inning for the Pirates and continued his recent strong work. He retired the Marlins in order while recording a trio of ground ball outs. Since May 1st, Daniel Hudson has allowed just 4 earned runs (2.35 ERA) on 10 hits, 1 home run, 8 walks, and 13 strikeouts in 15 1/3 innings pitched. He owns a 3.91 FIP and a 45 percent ground ball rate in these outings.

Dovydas Neverauskas, who was just recalled from Triple-A today, pitched the top of the 9th for the Pirates. He allowed the first 2 hitters of the inning to reach base but then recorded a pop out and a double play ball to end the inning.

The Pittsburgh Pirates would end the shutout in the bottom of the 9th inning. Phil Gosselin singled off of Brain Ellington to start the inning, and then John Jaso drew a walk. Gosselin would then advance to third base on a Jose Osuna fly out to center field.

Josh Bell then crushed a ball right at first baseman Tyler Moore. Moore would turn the ball into a ground out, however, Gosselin scored on the play to cut the Miami lead to 7-1.

Next: Tony Watson Needs To Stop Pitching In High Leverage Situations

Game 2 of the 4 game series is scheduled for 7:05 PM on Friday night. Tyler Glasnow is scheduled to start for the Pirates, while the Marlins plan to go with another ex-Pirate in Vance Worley. Hopefully, the Pirates have better luck against this ex-Pirate than they did Edinson Volquez on Thursday night.

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