A day after the Pirates cobbled two runs against Jacob deGrom, another Texas starter, Kumar Rocker, began the day with a 7.31 ERA and greeted hitters with a heavy dose of cutters in the Rangers' 3-2 win this afternoon at PNC Park.
Rocker threw 36 cutters out of his 89 pitches, a season-high. The cutter generated 22 swings with seven whiffs and eight foul balls. Oneil Cruz's 103-mph single to right field in the first inning and Adam Frazier's single in the second were the only hits off the cutter.
Don Kelly on Rocker: “Cutter looked good, to me, from the side. There were a few that he threw, running it up there low 90s, one might’ve been 95. He’s got the power arm and was mixing it up both sides and was able to flip the curveball in at times, too. He kept us off balance.”
Rocker threw 13 curves, the Pirates swung and missed once and put only one into play.
Rocker left in the sixth inning with one out after walking Spencer Horwitz and Nick Gonzales, Pirates wouldn’t get another hit the rest of the way as the final 18 batters didn’t get a hit and the final 11 hitters were retired after Frazier was hit by a pitch from reliever Shawn Armstrong in the sixth.
The Pirates are now 17-45 when scoring four runs or less, a breakdown of the misery:
• Andrew McCutchen struck out twice and singled in four at-bats. During his seventh inning strikeout, he appeared to be a bit frustrated by the second-strike call and after he struck out swinging, he almost slammed his bat to the ground, just holding up and probably avoiding an ejection.
• Bryan Reynolds returned from paternity leave going hitless in four at-bats, dropping his season average to .219 and .145 this month. He’s arguably been the team’s best hitter since coming to Pittsburgh but this season, his -2.81 pitch value against the curveball and -0.91 against the slider are not unlike the remainder of his teammates.
• Among the 18 hitters with their primary position as a right fielder and 250 or more plate appearances, Reynolds is last against the fastball (-1.5) and curveball, and 17th against the slider. The only other time he had a negative pitch value against the fastball was the 2020 season at -0.07, 56th among all outfielders with 150 or more plate appearances.
• While the team overall has been doing well against the changeup, Reynolds is not one of them as he’s faced 128 pitches in 25 plate appearances, swung at 46, missed on 10 with only two singles and one double.
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THE ASYLUM
Eric Bowser
12:51 am - 06.22.2025North ShoreExtra Bases: Off their Rocker
A day after the Pirates cobbled two runs against Jacob deGrom, another Texas starter, Kumar Rocker, began the day with a 7.31 ERA and greeted hitters with a heavy dose of cutters in the Rangers' 3-2 win this afternoon at PNC Park.
Rocker threw 36 cutters out of his 89 pitches, a season-high. The cutter generated 22 swings with seven whiffs and eight foul balls. Oneil Cruz's 103-mph single to right field in the first inning and Adam Frazier's single in the second were the only hits off the cutter.
Don Kelly on Rocker: “Cutter looked good, to me, from the side. There were a few that he threw, running it up there low 90s, one might’ve been 95. He’s got the power arm and was mixing it up both sides and was able to flip the curveball in at times, too. He kept us off balance.”
Rocker threw 13 curves, the Pirates swung and missed once and put only one into play.
Rocker left in the sixth inning with one out after walking Spencer Horwitz and Nick Gonzales, Pirates wouldn’t get another hit the rest of the way as the final 18 batters didn’t get a hit and the final 11 hitters were retired after Frazier was hit by a pitch from reliever Shawn Armstrong in the sixth.
The Pirates are now 17-45 when scoring four runs or less, a breakdown of the misery:
0: 10 losses
1: 8 (2-6)
2: 18 (5-13)
3: 12 (5-7)
4: 14 (5-9)
• Andrew McCutchen struck out twice and singled in four at-bats. During his seventh inning strikeout, he appeared to be a bit frustrated by the second-strike call and after he struck out swinging, he almost slammed his bat to the ground, just holding up and probably avoiding an ejection.
• Bryan Reynolds returned from paternity leave going hitless in four at-bats, dropping his season average to .219 and .145 this month. He’s arguably been the team’s best hitter since coming to Pittsburgh but this season, his -2.81 pitch value against the curveball and -0.91 against the slider are not unlike the remainder of his teammates.
• Among the 18 hitters with their primary position as a right fielder and 250 or more plate appearances, Reynolds is last against the fastball (-1.5) and curveball, and 17th against the slider. The only other time he had a negative pitch value against the fastball was the 2020 season at -0.07, 56th among all outfielders with 150 or more plate appearances.
• While the team overall has been doing well against the changeup, Reynolds is not one of them as he’s faced 128 pitches in 25 plate appearances, swung at 46, missed on 10 with only two singles and one double.
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