Seattle’s hitters jumped on Pirates starter Jake Woodford early and the Bucs’ offense was stuffed by Mariners starter George Kirby on Sunday. Greg Brown has the recap of the Pirates’ loss.
Manager Derek Shelton says despite Sunday’s loss, it was a good series against the Mariners.
After the Pirates claimed Joey Bart from the Giants early this season, he’s hit .277 with 12 home runs, including a big swing yesterday. Shelton says it shows how difficult it is to evaluate a player’s progress.
For tonight’s series opener in Texas, the Pirates will start right-hander Luis Ortiz [5-3, 3.41 ERA] on the mound. The Rangers have not named their starter. The airtime is 7:40 on WCCS.
On The Ben Cherington Show on WCCS yesterday, the Pirates’ general manager took the blame for the team’s recent ten-game losing streak, but said he hasn’t given up hope on this season, while measuring the Bucs’ progress against last year.
Cherington says the Pirates can still get back into the Wild Card hunt.
Andrew McCutchen was placed on the 10-day injured list over the weekend with a sore knee. Cherington says it’s been a problem all season long for the veteran, and Cutch isn’t 23 years old anymore.
The GM says starter Jared Jones will probably get one more rehab start with Indianapolis this week before returning to the Pirates’ rotation. He likes what the team has seen from the rookie fireballer.
The Pirates are stocked with great arms at Triple-A Indianapolis. Braxton Ashcraft has been out with arm miseries, but Bubba Chandler and Thomas Harrington have both been dealing since being promoted to Indy. Cherington says they are a lot like Jared Jones was last year.
Cherington also said left-handed reliever Ryan Borucki’s rehab is back on track after he was shut down briefly and had an injection in his ailing left tricep.
ALTOONA CURVE
Altoona did not get a hit until the 6th inning and had only four hits on the night as they lost to Bowie, 6-2. The Curve are off today and open a six-game series at Richmond tomorrow night.
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