Bucs, Cole Out Of It Early In 7-1 Thumping

Well, Cole Train's problems continued. A bunt single, walk and a pair of doubles made it 3-0 Fish before the Bucs got to the bat rack. J-Hay dropped one for a hit, and with two gone Eddie Volquez got a little wild with a walk and a plunk. The Bucs left them aboard when Cutch K'ed looking on a pitch that may have been in but was close enough to spoil. Cole regained his focus in the second; the Bucs got another walk. Christian Yelich stroked his second two-bagger in the third but wasn't cashed in. Eddie cruised, striking out a pair. The Marlins must have gotten a doubles memo tonight; two more two-sackers in the fourth made it 4-0. The Pirates didn't dent Edinson in their half.

The mystery deepens... (image Positively Pittsburgh)

Miami got back-to-back knocks with two away in the fifth and Derek Dietrich made it three-in-a-row with his third hit of the night to chase home a run. Another rap and run followed, and yet another followed. It was 7-0, Cole Train has been ripped for 11 hits, and even with the pitcher batting, Clint went to the pen for Jhan Marinez, with Jacob Stallings doing the double-switch thing with Eli. Jhan put the lid on it, and Pittsburgh remained hitless since the second batter with their swings. Clint began running in the subs, putting Max Moroff and the Goose on the field. Fortunately, the crowd had hockey updates to keep them amused. It was 1-2-3 for the Fish in the sixth. Josh opened with an opposite field double; he has both hits of Eddie so far. J-Hay made it third but couldn't cover that last 90'.

Jhan gave up a seventh-inning knock but put up a zero on the board. J-Bell smacked a pinch-hit double; again a fan grabbed a ball in play, sheesh. It led to nothing. Huddy worked a clean eighth. Dustin McGowan took the hill after Eddie had tossed 111 pitches. He picked up where Eddie ended with a routine 1-2-3 frame. Dovydas Neverauskas worked the ninth and started against Mike Stanton and Yelich, who smacked consecutive singles. Dovy settled in to get an infield fly pop and GIDP to escape the early jam. Brain Ellington gave up a Goose single. A walk and a couple of productive outs got the Pirates on the board before a punch out ended it.

Clint wasted no time getting Dovy's feet wet (photo Dave Arrigo/Pirates)

As well as Eddie V was tossing, it was likely that Gerrit was gonna end up on the short end of the stick again no matter how sharp he was. But his sudden fall from grace is a huge hit to a team that's trying to get the back-end of its rotation squared away only to discover the front side is leaking oil. The club has taken on water with Marte and Kang, Cole and Cutch, a rotating injury list and overexposure of its long-and-middle relievers. If the baseball & positive regression gods don't cut the team a break pretty soon...

Notes:

• The Pirates had four hits; J-Hay had half of them.
• How bad have Gerrit's last four starts been? His ERA has gone from 2.84 to 4.83 since May 17th. Guess the trade rumors will quiet down now.
• Man, that third out - the Marlins drove in five of their runs on two-out knocks in nine RISP opportunities. The Bucs were 0-for-6 with two outs and RISP and 0-for-10 overall.
• Tony Watson & Felipe Rivero were both getting rest days tonight; Clint couldn't have picked a better time. Juan Nicasio was the designated closer.
• The Bucs drew 21,744 fans on a Penguin home Cup Final night.