Tuesday night, the Pittsburgh Pirates and Kansas City Royals played the middle game of their three-game set in Kansas City. The Royals sent Jason Vargas to the mound, who was making his first start since coming off of the disabled list. The Pirates would oppose Vargas with Gerrit Cole, the Major League leader in wins.
Monday night's game was a slugfest that the Pirates were able to scratch and claw their way through pulling out a 10-7 victory. Tuesday night was a much different story from Kauffman Stadium. Unfortunately for Royals starter Jason Vargas, the night could not have been any worse as Vargas would exit Tuesday's game after throwing just 26 pitches. Vargas threw pitch number 26 and then he looked down at his pitching elbow and ended up coming out of the game.
For Pirates starter Gerrit Cole, he had one of his better starts all year on Tuesday night. Cole pitched 7.1 scoreless innings before allowing an RBI single to Jarrod Dyson that plated two runs. Errors by both Gregory Polanco and Neil Walker hurt the Pirates and helped lead to those two runs scoring in the eighth. Cole was charged with three runs, just two of them earned, while scattering five hits and striking out six batters.
With the Royals up 2-0, Alcides Escobar singled to right field to score Jarrod Dyson and put the Royals ahead 3-0. That hit came against Pirates reliever Arquimedes Caminero, who came on in relief of Gerrit Cole after Dyson's two-run single.
The Royals would send closer Greg Holland to the mound in the top of the ninth inning to close the door on the Pirates night. Starling Marte lead off the inning with an infield hit followed by a Jung Ho Kang double. However, the Pirates sent Marte home and he was thrown out at the plate. Travis Ishikawa drove in Kang with two men out in the ninth to make it 3-1 Royals. Sean Rodriguez loaded the bases on an infield single, following a Chris Stewart walk, giving the Pirates still had a fighting chance. Holland would eventually strike out Gregory Polanco of the Pirates to record his 21st save of the season to give the Royals the 3-1 victory.
ANALYSIS: Gerrit Cole pitched great as he usually does in this contest, but the Pirates broke down fundamentally, especially on defense late in the game. The Pirates committed two costly errors in the eighth inning and it cost not just Cole, but the whole team. Another thing that was awful from a fundamental aspect was Starling Marte being the first out in the top of the ninth inning when the Pirates were down 3-0. Had Marte been held at third base the Pirates would have had runners at second and third. Instead, Jung Ho Kang was the only one in scoring position and the Pirates were down to just two outs after Marte was thrown out.
The Pirates cannot afford to waste games, especially like this one, when the obvious goal is to catch St. Louis and finally be able to prove their worth by winning the NL Central division. The Pirates are going to take a playoff berth any way possible, even if it comes as a Wild Card, but Wild Card games are a crapshoot and winning the division gives them home field advantage for at least the NLDS. That is far down the road and this is just one game out of many, but the Pirates have done this time and time again. They cannot keep making these same mistakes, both offensively and defensively.
BIG PICTURE: The Pirates loss to Kansas City drops them to five games behind the St. Louis Cardinals for first place in the National League Central. The Cardinals won their matchup against the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday.
Things are not all doom and glooom, mostly because the Pirates are still within striking distance. However, the Cardinals have an easier schedule the rest of the way compared to the Pirates. Kansas City is a good team and this is not to disrespect them, but the Pirates could have won this one. They didn't and it cost them a game in the standings because of it.
The Pirates have now lost four of their last five games since the All-Star Break, and have scored just eigth runs total in those four losses. Doing quick math, one can see that is not going to be enough run production to win games, regardless of how good the Pirates pitching continues to be. This is another loss, just like the three in Milwaukee, that the Pirates must put behind them quickly and progress and improve upon. This needs to be a learning experience, not a worrysome symbol of a team that is going to fade. The Pirates are not going to fade because this is not the 2011 or 2012 Pirates. They have learned to win as a team and they very well may take the series on Wednesday night.