Wednesday, June 4th, 2008 by Adam Wagner
Pirates shut out for first time this year
On Tuesday, the Pirates were shut out for the first time this season, a somewhat remarkable feat for the last National League team to be shut out this season. Old nemesis Wandy Rodriguez, who always seems to pitch well against Pittsburgh, beat Phil Dumatrait who had a another solid start, giving up two runs over six innings in the 2-0 loss.
The Pirates’ offense just didn’t get the job done again, particularly Adam LaRoche. LaRoche came to the plate with the bases loaded in the sixth inning, but hit the ball right at Miguel Tejada, ending the inning and the scoring opportunity. LaRoche needs to start producing again, as it is a little late for any hitter, even one who starts as abysmally as LaRoche, to be hitting .211. It is beginning to become fair to say that neither team won the Mike Gonzalez for LaRoche deal, as neither player has been effective for his current team.
The Astros received most of their offense from 2B Kaz Matsui, who went 4-for-4 and scored both runs, one on an RBI double by Lance Berkman that glanced off of Xavier Nady’s glove and another on a Tejada double. That was all of the offense that the Astros would need and should just go to show the Pirates that it is vital to bring runners from the top of the order who get on base around to score, particularly on a night where Jack Wilson, the Pirates’ second hitter, got two hits.
Wilson looks very good for just coming back from injury and may be the spark that the infield so desperately needs in order to start producing the way the outfield has all season. If he can be that catalyst, then the Pirates will probably be okay in terms of production as Jose Bautista is hitting .256, which is about as well as can be expected, while LaRoche and Freddy Sanchez are both drastically underachieving. Hopefully the presence of Wilson will cause them to pick their games up.
Tyler Yates had issues with wildness again, walking two hitters in his one inning of work but managing to not give up a run. Part of being a good relief pitcher is not putting runners on base. Someone should give him that message.
The magic number is now down to 51.
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