Pittsburgh Pirates road trip report card for June 2-7

Offense 

The offense picked up Cole in a big way Friday night, scoring 12 runs. The star of the night was backup catcher Elias Diaz, who drove in six of those runs, three of which came in the top of the sixth with a three-run home run, his first in the big leagues. It was a great offensive effort all the way around, as Josh Harrison and Josh Bell went a combined 5-9, with Bell hitting his tenth homer of the season and Harrison his seventh.

The next night was not as fun. Pittsburgh only managed to score two runs and went an awful 1-12 with runners in scoring position. Bell homered once again, but overall, the bats put together a pathetic performance in the penultimate game of the series.

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After that brief setback, the fun resumed Sunday with 11 runs. The star of the day was Andrew McCutchen, who went 3-5 with three RBI and his ninth jack of the season. Cutch looks to be locked in, and time will tell if he is “back” for good.

Tuesday night, the offense did what it had to do for the most part, and if Watson had done what he gets paid to do, I think we would have looked at its performance as a quite successful one. The Pirates lost that game, however, and I point to one thing that the offense could have done better.

With the Bucs up 4-1 in the top of the seventh, Gregory Polanco stepped up to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs. Here was a golden opportunity for the Pirates number three hitter to put the game out of reach. Instead, El Coffe grounded out to the second baseman, and the threat was averted.

Wednesday was the same as Tuesday. The Pirates scored six runs, with role players Elias Diaz and Jose Osuna producing four of those tallies. Once again, their efforts were all for naught. In case you haven’t been reading, Tony Watson had something to do with that.

Overall, the bats had a good week. In four of the five games, they hit the ball well enough to get the Bucs a W, but the bullpen only held up its end of the bargain in two of those games.

Grade: A-