Pittsburgh Pirates: Strong Pitching and More Takeaways From Series Split

Strong series for Pirate pitchers

After taking some lumps against the Cardinals it was a strong series for the pitching staff of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Making his Pirate debut veteran lefty José Quintana allowed 1 run in 5.1 innings pitched in Tuesday’s home opener. The lone run he allowed was a solo home run by Seiya Suzuki, Quintana walked a pair and struck out 3.

Anthony Banda followed by pitching 1.2 innings and striking out 3 batters. However, Banda was also burnt by a Suzuki solo blast. Chris Stratton and David Bednar retired 6 of the 7 batters they faced while combing for 3 strikeouts.

Zach Thompson allowed 2 runs in 4+ innings pitched before exiting his Pirate debut after being struck with a Nico Hoerner line drive. Dillon Peters followed with 2 scoreless innings and Wil Crowe pitched 3 scoreless to close the series out.

While Pirate pitchers allowed 3 solo home runs in the series it was the only damage the Cubs were able to do. Outside of these 3 solo home runs Pirate pitchers allowed just 1 run on 12 hits, 5 walks, and they struck out 18 Cub batters.

Whenever a team allows just 2 runs in a game, as the Pirates did in both games of this series, their odds of winning are pretty dang high. Sure, the Cubs being a bad team was a factor as well. But early in the season there is nothing wrong with a little optimism and positive thoughts.

Although the Pirates could not parlay this strong pitching performance into a series sweep, they will still gladly take this performance from their pitchers. Especially if it prove to be a precursor to a better than expected season from their pitching staff.