Pittsburgh Pirates road trip report card for June 2-7

Starting Pitching 

Gerrit Cole’s struggles continued in the first game of this road trip. Just as they did the previous Saturday, the Mets hit Cole hard, scoring seven runs in five innings. It’s clear that Cole has not been himself these past few weeks, and it’s fair to question where his physical health is at this point.

Tyler Glasnow did not have a great Saturday night, allowing four earned runs, all of which coming via the long ball. Glasnow continues to stumble, and we can only hope that he finds some consistency soon.

In the series finale, Trevor Williams shoved once again, going seven innings and allowing just one run. Ever since his first outing of the season at Dodger Stadium, Williams has been rock solid, and he deserves to be in the rotation when Jameson Taillon comes back into the fold.

Ivan Nova followed what has become a somewhat unfortunate pattern Tuesday night. For six innings, he was excellent, with his only blemish being a leadoff home run by Seth Smith. Late in the game, however, things unraveled. After back-to-back jacks from Chirs Davis and Jonathan Schopp, Nova left the game with an apparent knee injury. One can only hope that Nova is ok and that he learns how to deal with the third go around of the batting order.

In the series finale, Chad Kuhl did not have the best of stuff, as he walked four over five innings of work. Kuhl was good enough, however, allowing just one run. He deserved to come away with a W, but thanks to Hurdle and Watson, it was not to be.

Overall, the Pirates rotation had a “blah” week. We saw good outings from Williams, Nova and Kuhl, and weak ones from Cole and Glasnow. As is becoming a pattern, it was an up-and-down trip for the Bucco starters, and their grade from me reflects that.

Grade C