If the Pirates and the media had to vote for an MVP at the quarter point of the season, the overwhelming majority would be for Andrew McCutchen. However, I would like to see the number of votes that James McDonald would receive. Last year, McDonald struggled especially late in the games, working out of the seventh only twice. This season, McDonald has allowed only 16 runs in nine starts, struck out 58 batters and worked out of the seventh in four starts, the latest coming tonight. As has been the story of the Pirates season, the offense wasn’t able to generate enough support for J-Mac as the Pirates fell 3-2 at the hands of R.A. Dickey and the Mets.
McDonald only allowed one run over the seven innings of work, an RBI single by Mike Nickeas in the second inning. Besides that, he shut the Mets down while striking out eight along the way. This marks the fifth time in his past eight starts that McDonald has allowed only one run in his outing.
“I’m happy, but there’s always room for improvement,” McDonald said. “Just to be consistent and don’t be satisfied with what I’ve done. I just need to keep pushing forward and working hard to have this the entire season.”
Manager Clint Hurdle was also quite satisfied with his young pitcher’s performance.
“James was very, very effective again tonight and it’s fun to watch him pitch,” Hurdle said. “The way he was able to pitch to David Wright was impressive as well. It was real fun watching J-Mac take another step forward.”
For the Pirates offensive output, or lack there of, came as they struck first in the sixth inning with a triple by Josh Harrison. McCutchen would drive Harrison in for the first run of the game as he hit a sac-fly to right field to even the score. Harrison and Rod Barajas both extended their hitting streaks to eight games, but the knuckleballer Dickey was able to control the rest of the lineup as he struck out a career-high 11 batters, breaking his previous high of 10 against the Pirates last season.
“His numbers coming in are real,” Hurdle said of Dickey. “They were real last year. He competes and he makes pitches.
Juan Cruz, who carried a .56 ERA coming into the game, came on in the eighth and allowed two runs, one earned, after Lucas Duda singled to right to score Mike Baxter. A Pedro Alvarez error would extend the inning and allow Kirk Nieuwenhuis to score from third.
The Pirates would put together one more valiant effort in the bottom of the eighth after McCutchen score Tabata following his leadoff double. McCutchen would steal second, but Alvarez made the steal moot by striking out swinging.
As it has happened all year, McDonald received only one run of support while he was pitching. He is now ninth worst in baseball with a 3.92 run support average, one spot above teammate Kevin Correia. The question is, does it bother him?
“No,” McDonald said. “There were times last year when I was horrible three starts in a row and these guys had my back and picked me up. It’s only a matter of time until this team clicks and they are playing hard behind me everyday, that’s all I can ask for.”
The Pirates will face the Mets in the rubber-match tomorrow as Charlie Morton (2-4, 4.35 ERA) will take the hill for Pittsburgh. Facing him will be Jonathon Niese (2-2, 4.85 ERA) for the Mets. First pitch is scheduled for 12:35 p.m. ET.
Photo credits: Associated Press
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