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McCutchen, McLouth show off as Pirates lose in 12 to Braves
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Jeff Francoeur scores the winning run in the 15th inning as Jason Jaramillo's foot is pulled off home plate on Jack Wilson's throw. (AP Photo/Gregory Smith)
In a sense, even in defeat, Monday night’s 15-inning marathon, tough, 7-6 loss to the Atlanta Braves showed why the Nate McLouth deal might make sense. (Forget, for a minute, that McLouth went 3-for-7 with a home run for the Braves).
It was only one game, of course, so take this oversimplification with a grain of tongue-in-cheek salt. But the contest showed some of the dynamic things Andrew McCutchen can do – and some of the things the Bucs’ starting pitching can’t.
The two most obvious impacts of the McLouth trade to the Pirates’ organization were to get the McCutchen Era in centerfield underway and to add starting pitching depth. Monday, McCutchen went 4-for-7 with the first two triples of his career and an RBI to improve to .400 after five major league games.
Also, Zach Duke was roughed up to the tune of six runs on 11 hits – three home runs – and only two strikeouts. The poor start was uncharacteristic for the Duke of 2009 (It was very much like his typical outings from 2006-08). And then Jeff Karstens came in and promptly lost the game, his ERA rising to 5.43. Considering Monday had nothing to do with Ian Snell, don’t think that this starting staff couldn’t use some reinforcements in the coming years – and maybe, just maybe, Charlie Morton and Jeff Locke can provide that some day.
In other trade reactions, Baseball Prospectus seems to favor the Braves. The Post-Gazette’s Dejan Kovakevic doesn’t come out and say it, but the tenor of his piece suggests he’s not a fan, either. Then again, that particular piece was published Sunday. Perhaps Kovakevic was swayed some by Cleveland Indians general manager Mark Shapiro, who backed the Pirates in the deal. (As the story says, it’s almost unheard of for another general manager to comment on a trade involving two other teams).
Oh yeah, Monday’s game. We’ve already touched on McCutchen (good), Karstens (bad) and Duke (ugly). But for one more of each…
The Good: Before Karstens entered the game, the bullpen (everybody except for Matt Capps got into the game) tossed a combined eight scoreless innings. … Eric Hinske improved to 5-for-16 (.312) when pinch-hitting in the pitcher’s spot with his two-run single (he later scored) during the three-run Pirates’ seventh that caused that extra-innings mess.
The Bad: Jason Jaramillo struck out four times.
The Ugly: Nyjer Morgan officially went 0-for-5 and was caught stealing for the seventh time this season.
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