The Pittsburgh Pirates started the first week of the Major League Baseball season on the right foot with a record of 4-2 against the St. Louis Cardinals and the Cincinnati Reds.
After one week of play, the Pittsburgh Pirates are off to a good start to the 2016 season. They currently sit at 4-2 on the year which is good for third place in the National League Central behind two 5-1 teams in the Cincinnati Reds and the Chicago Cubs. Even though this team has a decline in power from last season, they are still finding ways to score runs when they need to.
In the first series of the year, the Pirates swept the St. Louis Cardinals in a three-game set at PNC Park. They managed to outscore the Cardinals by a combined score of 15-7, and they were able to do it against three quality starting pitchers in Adam Wainwright, Michael Wacha, and Mike Leake. The offense was tested early and showed that they can compete with one of the best teams in all of major league baseball.
Then the Pirates hit a bump in the road losing two out of three games against the Reds at Great American Ball Park. Throughout the course of the series, the Pirates had many opportunities to win every ball game. They took advantage of that opportunity in the first game when Starling Marte hit a grand slam that ultimately gave the Pirates a 6-5 victory. However, they did not take advantage of opportunities in games two and three including leaving 14 runners on base in today's contest.
This offense has shown that it has the ability to score a lot of runs against any team. Manager Clint Hurdle's tweaks to the lineup have proven to pay-off early on. Jon Jaso has done a nice job working out of the lead-off spot, and moving Gregory Polanco to the middle of the order has allowed him more opportunities to drive in runs. This new lineup has been successful early on and looks to continue for the rest of the season.
Another strong suit for the Pirates in this first week was the bullpen. The group combined to throw a total of 21.2 innings and have only given up six runs. They have done a nice job of coming into the game and shutting the other team down when they need to. Their best showing was the second game of the year against the Cardinals when they threw 5.0 scoreless innings and held a very potent Cardinals offense to a total of three hits and allowing the Pirates to score the game winning run in the eleventh.
The best of the bullpen, however, has come from the back-end of the bullpen. Neftali Feliz, Tony Watson, and Mark Melancon have done some very good work out of the bullpen. Melancon is the only one of the trio who has given up a run, but that was on opening day. When these three pitchers are on, the game shortens and forces you to beat the Pirates before the seventh inning.
The starting rotation has both some ups and downs in the first week of the season. Juan Nicasio, Jeff Locke, and Francisco Liriano each had great starts this week in their first victories of the season. Nicasio impressed in his Pirates debut throwing 6.0 innings giving up one run on two hits while striking out seven. Nicasio had a great spring training for the Pirates and carried that over to the regular season.
Locke pitched very well against the Reds in today's game going 6.0 innings allowing one run on seven hits while walking two and striking out one. Liriano struck out ten on opening day and allowed no runs over 6.0 innings of work. However, the rotation also had some bumps this week as Jon Niese and Gerrit Cole each struggled in their season debuts.
Cole only went 4.2 innings in his start against the Reds, and Niese went 5.0 innings while giving up five runs, four earned,in his start against the Cardinals. Both of these guys will be fine moving forward and I am looking for big things from this starting rotation. If they can keep the Pirates in ball games through the first five innings, this bullpen will take over and shut down any offense in the league.
Overall, the Pirates showed flashes of being a great team in this first week of the season. The offense showed that it is capable of scoring runs, and the pitching has shown that it can shut down any offense. It is just a matter of bringing things all together and letting this team mesh as one. Once they do that, this team will be a force to be reckoned with across the MLB.
Play of the Week: Starling Marte Grand Slam Against the Reds
This was not a hard choice as the biggest play of the week for the Pirates had to be the grand slam hit in Friday night's game against the Reds that gave the Pirates a 6-5 win. The Pirates and Reds had been going back and forth all evening and the Reds pulled ahead with a 5-2 lead. The Pirates had loaded the bases the inning before and loaded them again in the eighth. Then Starling Marte hit a 1-0 pitch out to left field to put the Pirates ahead for good and giving them a 6-5 win. It was the first home run of the year for the Pirates and it could not have come at a better time.
Hitter of the Week: Francisco Cervelli (.389 average 4 RBI, 4 Walks, 1 Triple)
The offensive leader for the Pirates this week was Francisco Cervelli. The Pirates starting catcher capped off a first week of the season with a .389 average, four RBI, four walks, and a triple on the week. He leads the team in both average and RBI to start the season and has done a nice job behind the dish as well. He provided a key RBI double in the final game of the series with the Cardinals driving in David Freese and Starling Marte to pull the Pirates away from the Cardinals and ultimately earn them the victory. Cervelli has a break out year for the Pirates last season, and so far in 2016 he has continued his success from last season.
Pitcher of the Week: Juan Nicasio (1-0 1.50 ERA, 7 Strikeouts 0 Walks)
Juan Nicasio had a great Pirates debut in the third game of the season against the St. Louis Cardinals where he threw 6.0 innings giving up one run on two hits and striking out seven batters. Nicasio had a great spring training for the Pirates striking out 24 batters in 15.0 innings pitched. Nicasio's control was much better in his first start of the year then it had been in the past. He looks to continue that this season and bounce back as a member of the Pirates rotation. He is currently tied with Jeff Locke for the team lead in ERA and looks to continue to lead this team throughout the 2016 season.
Up Next:
The Pirates return to action tomorrow afternoon when they travel to Comerica Park to take on the Detroit Tigers. For the Tigers, it will be Justin Verlander (0-0 4.50) on the mound. The Pirates will oppose with left-hander Jon Niese (0-0 7.20) who is looking to bounce back after a rough start his last time out. First pitch is scheduled for 1:10 p.m.
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