Pirates/MLB
Pittsburgh Pirates
Drew Hutchison’s Pirates debut saw the right hander be awarded a 4-0 lead after three innings, only to see things unravel in the fourth inning, allowing 5 hits and 4 runs in a disastrous inning as the Reds would go on to score seven unanswered runs, tagging Trevor Williams for three more in the fifth.
What the Pirates continue to do is find ways to lose in falling two games under .500 with a record of 69-71.
Down 7-4, the Pirates would get two runs in the sixth to cut the Reds lead to 7-6. Then in the ninth Juan Nicasio allows a costly solo home run to give the Reds a two run cushion going into the bottom of the ninth.
The Pirates would fall 8-7.
Another brutal loss against a bad Reds team that puts the Pirates playoff chances at about two percent entering Sunday.
As it was a few days ago following the eight game losing streak, everything now is all about 2017.
Looking to next year, what did Drew Hutchison show in his Pirates debut?
The overall numbers weren’t good in not going past the fourth inning and there wasn’t a lot of swing and miss stuff from Hutchison. In 73 pitches, Hutchison had just 5 swing and misses with a max velocity of 94 mph in the third inning on a pitch to Joey Votto that was fouled off.
Hutchison allowed 8 hits, 4 earned runs on 73 pitches, 46 for strikes. He struck out 3 and walked none. Hutchison had 7 flyouts and 1 groundout and those numbers fit the scouting report coming in as a flyball pitcher.
Hutchison had a scoreless 16 pitch first inning and his most encouraging inning of the night was in the second inning in getting out of a jam.
After getting ahead on Brandon Phillips with an 0-2 count, Phillips singled to right for a leadoff hit. Scott Schebler then singled to left putting runners at first and second and no outs.
Hutchison would then get the next three batters out. Striking out Eugenio Suarez swinging with an 85 mph slider during the at-bat, Tucker Barnhart flied out for the second out, and Hutchison ended the inning striking out Robert Stephenson swinging with another 85 mph slider.
During the outing, Hutchison threw his slider 16 times, 10 for strikes with a max velocity of 86 mph. His slider produced three [hide] of his five swing and misses.
In the fourth inning where things unraveled, Hutchison hit Scott Schebler with a pitch on a 1-2 count that put runners at first and second with one out as things soured quickly. In the inning with the Reds now seeing Hutchison for a third time, the Reds also started keying on Hutchison’s four-seam fastball.
Hutchison was making his first major league start since July 7. Over 16.2 innings pitched this season in the Majors, Hutchison has allowed 21 hits and 11 earned runs.
— Josh Harrison extended his hitting streak to 10 games, going 2-4 with a 2B, 2 RBIs.
— Josh Bell was 2-4 with a 2B, RBI, 2 Runs, BB
— Jung Ho Kang went 3-4 with a home run, 3 RBI
— Andrew McCutchen was 0-2 with 3 walks. He is batting .248 on the season.
— The Pirates were 4-12 with runners in scoring position, Reds 7-14. [/hide]
