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Pittsburgh Pirates road trip report card for 8/6-8/15
By Joe Smeltzer
Starting pitching – the good
Jameson Taillon and Trevor Williams each tossed gems with Taillon pitching a complete game in Denver and Williams throwing seven shutout frames in San Fran. The road trip also featured gritty performances by Chris Archer and Ivan Nova and hard-luck outings from Archer and Joe Musgrove. Over the past seven games, there was only one starting pitching performance that can be classified as bad, and I think we all know what that was.
Starting pitching – the bad
Although the decision to start Clay Holmes Friday night has been talked about more than necessary, it was a head scratcher, and thus became the only glaring negative to take from a starting pitching standpoint this road trip.
Overall, the Pirates starting pitching has stepped up, and is certainly not to blame for the teams “meh” August thus far.