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Clint Hurdle Puts the Blame on Himself After Rough Pirates Loss

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PITTSBURGH — Looking for a sweep against the Cincinnati Reds, the Pirates came up small all over the diamond Sunday afternoon, dropping a 7-3 decision to their division rivals.

Offensively, the Pirates mustered just three hits against Cincinnati starter Dan Straily. Defensively, they committed a pair of errors and gave up five stolen bases.

“We played some good Sunday games. Today wasn’t one of them,” manager Clint Hurdle said. “From a managerial standpoint, when things don’t go well, I’m taking all the things that didn’t work and putting them on my desk. That’s what I do anyway. I’m just trying to let you know to cut down on the questions. Everything that went wrong today comes to my table. I’ve got to sort it out and get through it.”

On the mound, starter Gerrit Cole was the brightest spot of a down day, but Hurdle called his performance a “mixed bag.”

Cole went 5.2 innings and gave up just three hits while striking out six, but he handed out three free passes and that, combined with the running game issues, let the Reds to score four runs against the Pirates’ starter.

“Overall, he’s capable of more,” Hurdle said. “This team has been a problem for him and a little bit of a puzzle. He’ll have to keep working at it and bust through it.”

Cole is now 0-6 with a 5.44 ERA in his career against the Reds.

“Fastball location was poor, controlling the running game was poor, pitching efficiency was poor, you name it,” Cole summarized.

Things got off to a bad start from the very beginning, as Reds center fielder Billy Hamilton walked and stole two bases encore scoring the first run of the game on Adam Duvall’s groundout.

“A walk to start off the game is pretty much a triple within four to five pitches,” Cole lamented. “That’s not going to get the job done.”
Cole settled down after giving up two runs in the first. Just one Reds player reached base in the next four frames.

“He was more erratic early on and he’d probably tell you that, too,” said catcher Eric Fryer. “He settled in after the second or third inning. He started mixing his pitches and speeds a little bit more — fastballs, curveballs, changeups. The slider wasn’t as impactful as it has been in the past so we started going with a little bit more curveballs and it was pretty successful, I thought.”

But Cole again ran into trouble in the sixth, where he gave up another run before being chased from the ballgame.

“I had an opportunity to try to be efficient, get deep into the ballgame and eat innings up and I fell into the same pitfalls I had early in the game and I ran myself out of there,” he said.

REDS RUN ON HAMILTON

Hamilton was a thorn in the Pirates’ side all afternoon. After walking and twice stealing in the first, he doubled, stole third and scored in the third inning. In the seventh, the singled, stole second, advanced to third on a Jung Ho Kang error and scored on Curtis Partch’s wild pitch.

“You can’t stop him, you can only hold him for a few pitches,” Cole said. “We did neither.”

“He’s an incredible talent,” agreed reliever Jared Hughes, who was Hamilton’s victim in the seventh. “You can definitely do everything right, the catcher can do everything right and he can still be safe. That’s what makes him such a danger on the basepaths. Overall, you have to focus on getting the hitter out.”

The Pirates had first baseman John Jaso playing off the bag at first base against the Reds’ speedier runners this series to give them a different look, Hurdle said before the game. But the Reds and Hamilton clearly have made an adjustment.

“We weren’t where we needed to be with it,” Hurdle said, again taking the blame from his team. “That’s my responsibility to take care of that. At the end of the day when things don’t work and we get that kind of bases stolen, that’s on the manager.”

That’s not to take anything away from Hamilton, who now leads the National League with 43 steals.

“He is arguably the most dynamic base runner in the National League,” Hurdle said. “He steals third more than anyone. He’s looking to go almost every pitch. He’s a throwback to the days of Ricky Henderson, Vince Coleman.”

Each of the Reds’ seven runs was aided by a walk, a stolen base, an error or a wild pitch. Those are the kind of things that can happen when a runner like Hamilton is in the head of his opposition.

“[Staying focused] is a challenge because you don’t want him to get huge jumps,” Fryer said. “He was able to get over there and score some runs for them. That’s their offense.”

STAYING THE COURSE

Hughes’ 2016 ERA shot up nearly half a run after he allowed two earned runs (three total) in 1/3 of an inning. He gave up three hits, but two of them were ground balls that just happened to find a hole.

“I think overall, I just have to get ahead in the count,” he said. “I think if I keep pounding the zone, keep the ball on the ground, that’s what I’m supposed to do. Sometimes, you give up hits like that, but you have to stay positive and keep doing it.”

Hughes entered the game at the beginning of the seventh inning — something that Hurdle has said he’d like to do more often, even though Hughes is considered a ground-ball specialist best-suited for inherited-runner situations.

“I feel like I’ve had success doing both,” Hughes said. “Both are about the same for me, I just have to get ahead in the count and stick to my strengths.”

ROTATION CLARITY

As expected, Chad Kuhl will start for the Pirates Tuesday after an off day Monday. The team will need to clear a spot on the 25-man roster for him to do so, which should come from Curtis Partch going back down. Kuhl has a 4.19 ERA and a 4.07 FIP in four MLB starts this season. His main draw is a two-seam fastball that can create a lot of ground ball outs, if he keeps it down in the zone, something he hasn’t done consistently with the Pirates.

“He keeps that low-to-mid 90s sinker in the bottom of the zone and gets them to beat the ball into the ground and throws enough good sliders and good changeups to mix and match,” said general manager Neal Huntington. “He’s going to be a successful major-league pitcher. He did that on occasion, but more often than not, he was elevated, and that’s not how he’s going to be a successful pitcher. A few minor adjustments, get him back to pounding the bottom of the zone, and he has a chance to keep this spot in the rotation.”

Up next on Wednesday will be veteran right-hander Ryan Vogelsong, who will keep his spot in the rotation.

“The challenge is, we don’t want guys pitching like their hair is on fire, looking over their shoulder,” Huntington said. “That’s a tough situation. Ryan’s been a veteran. He’s been around a long time. He’s earned the start. When he’s started for us in three games this year, he put us in a position to win and that’s what you’re looking for in the rotation. We do have alternatives, but our anticipation is that Ryan will continue to give us a chance to win and as well feel he’s able to do that, he’ll remain a starter.”

Jameson Taillon will pitch the final game of the three-game series with the San Diego Padres on Wednesday.

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