After earning the victory in the second game of the four-game series against the Atlanta Braves, the Pirates were unable to capitalize on two second inning runs, as they lost the game 4-3.
Pirates pitcher Kevin Correia took the loss for the Pirates as he was only able to pitch 4.1 innings. Correia gave up three runs, two of them being earned, and walked five batters over the course of his 101-pitch outing. The loss makes Correia’s record an even 1-1 on the season.
Despite the loss to the Braves, there are some positives to take out of the contest, most notably the performances of Pedro Alvarez and Jose Tabata.
Alvarez, who has been on an absolute tear in his past six games, got his average up over .200 for the season. Relate that to the .068 average he had last weekend and it’s a dramatic increase. Alvarez went 2-4 on the day today, but what impressed me most is the was he got his hits. The first one, off Braves starter Tim Hudson, was a first-pitch rocket just over Braves shortstop Tyler Pastornicky’s head into left-center for a base hit. The second hit, was a double down the left field line off of hard throwing left-handed setup man Jonny Venters.
The hit off Venters is the first one from anyone on the Pirates roster off of the impressive lefty. Aside from his warning track double off of Rex Brothers against the Rockies, his double off of Venters is the most impressive hit of his season to me. The ball was breaking off the outside of the plate and Alvarez was able to cover the whole dish and take the ball the opposite way, something he was unable to do last season. While it’s a small sample size, Pirates fans have to be impressed with the performance from El Toro.
As for Tabata, he hit a hard single in last night’s game, and added three more hits in today’s contest against the Braves. With the bases juiced in the second inning, Tabata took the Hudson delivery to right field for a two-run single to give the Pirates the early lead. In the ninth, Tabata collected his third hit of the game with a double down the right field line and would come around to score.
Hurdle said last week that they have been showing Tabata a lot of film, mostly good, to get him back to the way he was hitting before. He said it could have been a thing where Tabata was trying to hit for power, but got settled down and kept his hands back during his at bats.
Despite the loss and the two errors in the third inning by Alvarez and Andrew McCutchen, the Pirates and their fans have to be pleased by the offensive turnaround by two of their key players.
The Pirates and Braves will end their four-game set tomorrow as James McDonald (0-1, 2.78 ERA) will take the hill for the Pirates. For the Braves, they will hand the ball to Mike Minor (2-1, 3.42 ERA) as they look to win the series. The first pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. ET.
Photo credits: Getty Images
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