Pirates shutout 2-0 in pitchers duel

The Pirates dropped the first game in a two game mini-series to the Atlanta Braves last night thanks in large part to the brilliant pitching efforts of the Braves Jair Jurrjens.
Jurrjens was in control all night, working an efficient 7 2/3 innings. Of the 97 pitches he threw, 71 of them found the strike zone. By aggressively attacking the strike zone early, Jurrjens was able to control at-bats, working ahead in counts more often that not. Jurrjens, with the win moves his record to 6-1 and lowered his ERA to an impressive 1.56.


Had it not been for Jurrjens impressive outing, the spotlight would have been on Pirates starting pitcher Charlie Morton, who yet again turned in a quality start. Pitching as well as anyone in the majors, Morton came into the game with credentials similar to Jurrjens (5-1, 2.52 ERA).


Morton labored early, but after yielding runs consecutively in the second and third innings, he shut the door
for the rest of the night, giving the Pirates offense a chance to mount a comeback. The comeback never materialized, as the Atlanta bullpen was dominant in their performance. Setup man Johnny Venters came in the 8th to strike out Diaz with a runner on and closer Craig Kimbrel retired the Pirates in order in the 9th for his 13th save of the year.


The Pirate offense struggled to get going all night. The 1-4 hitters combined to go 2-15 and aside from consecutive hits from Chris Snyder and Ronny Cedeno in the 5th, the offense was as flat as I’ve seen it all season.


Maybe it was just two really good pitching performances that the Pirates ran into the last two games, but the top of this order cannot continue to put up such lackluster performances against top-notch pitchers.


I know driving up pitch counts is more prevalent in the game today than ever before, but when facing pitchers the quality of Jurrjens, Pirate hitters need to get more aggressive early in count. All of those guys have shown that they can hit the fastball with authority so why not swing at that first pitch fastball? Getting deep into the count isn’t going to matter if the pitcher is getting ahead 0-1 or 0-2 every time.


The Pirates will send James McDonald to the mound tonight, hoping to get a split out of the series. Opposing them will be recent minor league callup, left-handed Mike Minor. Hurdle likes to load the lineup with right handed hitters against lefties so for the offense to bounce back and jump on this kid early and often.


written by Shane McFarland