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Pittsburgh Pirates homestand report card for week of 5/3 – 5/8

By Joe Smeltzer

PITTSBURGH, PA - APRIL 04: Jordan Lyles #31 of the Pittsburgh Pirates delivers a pitch in the first inning during the game against the Cincinnati Reds at PNC Park on April 4, 2019 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Justin Berl/Getty Images)
PITTSBURGH, PA - APRIL 04: Jordan Lyles #31 of the Pittsburgh Pirates delivers a pitch in the first inning during the game against the Cincinnati Reds at PNC Park on April 4, 2019 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Justin Berl/Getty Images) /
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PITTSBURGH, PA – APRIL 04: Jordan Lyles #31 of the Pittsburgh Pirates delivers a pitch in the first inning during the game against the Cincinnati Reds at PNC Park on April 4, 2019 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Justin Berl/Getty Images) /

Starting pitching

Given the circumstances, it’s hard to complain about the job the starting rotation did this past week.

It’s not easy for any pitching staff to lose arguably its top two starters in a seven day window. That’s what the Pittsburgh Pirates had to deal with when first Chris Archer and then Jameson Taillon went on the injured list.

While it wasn’t pretty, the starting pitchers dealt with it the situation reasonably well.

The home stand got off to a rough start. Joe Musgrove got shelled Friday night in a blowout loss against Oakland. This was followed by a mediocre outing from Trevor Williams Saturday.

Things got better from there, however.

Jordan Lyles continued his excellent 2019 with 6.2 innings of one-run ball Sunday. While Steve Brault and Nick Kingham hardly resembled Koufax and Drysdale, the two came into a tough spot as emergency starters and gave the Pirates a chance to win.

So, while there was only one standout performance over this short home stand, given what the Bucs rotation was up against, I think a solid “B” is a fair grade.

B. Grade. . .

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