Kovacevic: Pirates can't chase their own tail

Dog days?

Eh, those are still a few days off, as the flip of the calendar will show.

But dog games?

Yeah, those are here. And if the Pirates are fortunate -- not to mention doggedly determined -- the rest of this month and into August and September, their bow-wow 5-3 burial of the Brewers on this steamy Thursday night at PNC Park is how a lot of this will look.

How it should look, anyway,

"You know what? This was taking care of business," Josh Harrison was telling me in a clubhouse where no one even bothered to pump up any music. "We've got a good team. We know that. And a deep one. This was just everyone going out there and doing their job."



That's it. Take care of business. Do the job.

The Pirates should take a series from the 13-below Brewers, especially when it's not at Miller Park. And they did, with two of three, the lone exception being another Jeff Locke debacle.

The Pirates should beat up Matt Garza when he's serving up bigger meatballs than the executive chef at Papa J's. And they did, early and often beginning with Matt Joyce's three-run rope over the Clemente Wall in the first inning:



OK, so maybe that wasn't too routine, even if Joyce has been Major League Baseball's preeminent pinch-hitter this summer. Because Starling Marte fell ill less than an hour before first pitch, forcing athletic trainer Todd Tomczyk to rush out to the dugout to inform Clint Hurdle. It was at 6:35 p.m., a half-hour away from the start, that Marte was scratched from the cleanup spot for Joyce.

"That's a pretty impressive late entry there," Hurdle said with a broad smile.

"I have to be ready either way," Joyce said. "You always have to put yourself in a position to be successful, no matter how you're used."

That's what the Pirates should get from this terrific bench, their best in a quarter-century.

And man, you'd better believe they should get a lot more of the Francisco Liriano witnessed on this night rather than the one who'd run up the highest walks-per-nine-innings average anywhere in Major League Baseball since old friend Todd Van Poppel way back in 1994.

Oh, that's real.

But so were Liriano's 13 strikeouts and three runs over 6 2/3 innings, mixed exquisitely with exactly zero walks and 67 of 103 pitches for strikes. And even weighing Milwaukee's mostly miserable lineup -- four batters began the day with averages in the .100 range, and the cleanup guy was at .226 -- command is command:



That was Andy Wilkins, some 27-year-old journeyman making a cameo appearance out of the Brewers' minor-league system.

But hey, wonderful, right?

"It starts with fastball command," Hurdle came back at my opening question. "But I think there was more to it. His 1-0 pitch tonight was electric."

His 1-0 pitch? Who talks about 1-0 pitches?

"He had 10 out of 24 first-pitch strikes, 14 guys with ball one."

Oh. So those were mostly fastballs to bounce back?

"A couple of them. His fastball was around the plate all night. A couple got out early that were arm-side high. The changeup was electric. The slider was disappearing. No walks. Thirteen punchouts. Really good stuff. Composure. Tempo. Just a really impressive outing."

Even beyond the results, I asked, referring to recent work with Ray Searage?

"He's been here before. It's not like he's digging somewhere he's never been. I just think it's a culmination of things, starting with confidence early."

Eric Fryer, the catcher on this night as Francisco Cervelli is brought back delicately from the hand surgery, drew praise far and wide for his game-calling.

Turns out that 1-0 pitch was pivotal on that front, too.

"A lot of changeups away," Fryer replied when I asked which fingers he was putting down on that count. "Those got swings and misses. And the other ones were mostly sliders to the back door."

To right-handed batters, Fryer meant. And thus, all to the outer part of the plate.

"He was dropping whatever he wanted out on that corner. And guys don't like to swing at that when you're already ahead, 1-0, in the count. And for me, all I've got to do is call for that pitch. As long as he keeps it away, he's probably not going to get hurt."

The 1-0 pitches must have been sensational because Liriano sounded convinced that he'd actually worked ahead all night along:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=/IecHqnIT6w4

There aren't any complaints from this corner. Liriano is a good pitcher when he's right, and he's dominant when he's really right. We'll see how he fares against a non-comatose lineup.

The Pirates, for that matter, are a good team when they're right. A very good one offensively.

And maybe, just maybe, those on the inside are finally taking this seriously.

A few hours before first pitch, I spotted Locke emerging from a lower-concourse office with Neal Huntington, just those two. No one was discussing what was said, but my decade and change on this beat can back up that the next pleasant meeting that takes place in that particular room will be the first. It might as well have 'Bad News' hung on the door.

Given how Locke's performed of late, plus the Pirates having six days off in the coming month, it doesn't exactly take a leap to conclude his spot in the rotation is either tenuous or totaled.