Veterans and rookies, working together to find success. It’s a nice thought, isn’t it? That was Pittsburgh’s reality as fan favorite Andrew McCutchen led a strong offensive effort, while a pair of rookie hurlers easily handled Colorado’s bats in another lopsided loss.
Andrew McClutchen
Does Andrew McCutchen circle games against the Rockies on his calendar? He’s historically mashed Colorado’s pitching, and added to that legacy of violence with another strong showing on Friday night.
With two on in the bottom of the first
inning, McCutchen got the Pirates going when he smashed Antonio Senzatela’s middle-middle fastball out into center field for a two-RBI double. After back-to-back doubles in the bottom of the second brought Pittsburgh’s advantage up to three, McCutchen appeared in the same situation as the first inning, and found the same result when he doubled (sick of that word yet?) home two more, pushing the Pirates ahead 5-0.
The Rockies yet again found themselves in a deep hole early on. Their starters, as a unit, have an ERA over 8 in the first frame this season. That’s…not great.
Blanked
The Rockies have been hitting a bit better as of late, but they found themselves totally unable to figure out Pittsburgh young guns on Friday night. Braxton Ashcraft, making his fourth Major League start, looked like Greg Maddux as he shut down Colorado’s bats throughout his outing. He allowed just a Mickey Moniak single and Yanquiel Fernández walk while striking out six in his five scoreless innings, totally silencing the Rockies offense.
He wasn’t the only youngster to find success as Bubba Chandler, Pittsburgh’s #2 prospect, picked up right where Ashcraft left off. Making your MLB debut would be enough to stress anyone out, but the 22-year-old right-hander looked like a veteran as, after allowing a leadoff double to Orlando Arcia, he struck out Ryan Ritter, induced a ground out from Tyler Freeman, and highlighted his premiere inning by striking out Moniak with a 100 MPH fastball.
His second and third innings of work went the same, with Chandler setting the Rockies down with little fanfare. Time was running out for Colorado to get back in the game.
Cannonballs Comin’
The Pirates laid into Colorado’s hurlers the last time Senzatela took the mound, and little changed on Friday. After Senza departed the game having allowed five runs in four innings, Anthony Molina entered hoping to keep things close enough for the Rockies to fight back. Unfortunately, Pittsburgh continued their hot hitting when Spencer Hortwitz led off the bottom of the sixth inning with his sixth home run of the season.
Tommy Pham would get in on the action two batters later, crushing Molina’s 1-0 offering 435 feet out into left-center field to bring home two more runs. Now facing an 8-0 deficit, and with precious outs continuing to dwindle, they would need a miracle to get back into this game.
Gilly’s back
If there’s any good news to be gleaned from this game, it was the return of Lucas Gilbreath. Having missed much of the last two seasons with injury issues, Gilbreath has had a hard time getting back onto an MLB mound. He did so on Friday, recording two strikeouts while also surrendering a home run to Alexander Canario. It wasn’t a perfect outing, but after the trials and tribulations that “Gilly” has gone through, it was nice just to see him back on the hill for the Rockies.
Unfortunately, even his return served as a small distraction from the game at hand. Chandler went out for the top of the ninth and, after allowing a leadoff single to Ryan Ritter, sent down Tyler Freeman, Mickey Moniak, and Warming Bernabel to cap an impressive four-inning relief debut. The Rockies recorded three hits in total in the loss.
Up Next
Let’s try that again. Saturday’s matchup between these two clubs will see Colorado’s Kyle Freeland (3-12, 5.16 ERA) do battle with Pittsburgh’s Mike Burrows (1-4, 4.46 ERA).
That game begins at 4:40pm MDT. See you then!
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