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Gerrit Cole Takes Away Positives in 6-5 Loss to Marlins

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PITTSBURGH — When is 12 hits better than 12 hits? According to Pirates starter Gerrit Cole, Friday’s performance against the Miami Marlins, when he gave up 12 hits and three runs in 6.2 innings in the Pirates’ 6-5 loss was in an improvement over his previous start, when he also gave up 12 hits to the Los Angeles Dodgers Sunday.

The difference, according to Cole, was that against the Marlins, he had all four of his pitches working and was able to locate with his fastball. The reason he still gave up 12 hits? Well, mostly bad luck and some fluky plays. The Marlins went 10-for-21 on balls in play (.476) against Cole, including three infield hits.

“It was just one of those nights,” Cole said. “I think it’s important to remember that they’re one of the best hitting clubs in the National League. They have really good hitters that use both sides of the field. They have a really good approach mentally up there in terms of grinding out pitches and some veteran hitters that have seen me before and understand what we’re trying to do. They’re a good ball club. They’re in the season race for a reason.”

Cole has spoken at length about maintaining a healthy level of emotion on the mound this season. He knows that he can use it as a tool, but too much can be a bad thing. In addition to the hits, he threw a wild pitch, was called for a balk and walked three batters (one intentionally).

“It’s easy to get frustrated,” he said. “It’s hard to take it pitch-to-pitch, but I thought we did a good job of that tonight. They threw a lot of different stuff at us. The bunt by Dee Gordon took us off guard. Thank God I made a good play. You just have to slow it down and try to take it one pitch at a time. It seems like you execute a pitch and you still don’t get rewarded, you just have to stay tough out there. That’s what those guys are doing at the plate — they’re just trying to be tough.”

Catcher Francisco Cervelli did come out frequently to chat with Cole, especially after Dee Gordon’s line drive hit him right in the back of the glove to start the game, but Cervelli is of the mindset that Cole has become mature enough to manage his own emotions on the mound.

“The first line drive, I went to him because I know when we see a line drive hit hard at us, our heart starts beating a little harder, but he knows what he has to do — he is a professional,” Cervelli said. “He pitches better when he’s fired up. He’s better when he has a tough situation. He knows how to handle it. My job is to keep everything the same.”

The multitude of hits wasn’t even Cole’s undoing. He used two double plays to wipe runners of the base paths and both Starling Marte and Gregory Polanco threw runners out at home plate. The issue was a new one — the long ball. Cole hadn’t given up a home run in 55 innings come into his start, but the Marlins’ J.T. Realmuto and Christian Yelich pumped a pair over the fence to build an early lead.

“The two solo home runs, we made guys beat us the other way,” Cole explained. “The pitch to Realmuto was down and away — a pretty good 2-0 pitch. You can’t black everything. With Yelich, the ball got to the bottom of the zone with good run. It didn’t get as far outside as we wanted. It’s the first pitch of the at-bat. It was a pretty dang good pitch. The kid put a really good swing on it. He’s a pretty dang good player. That’s not the first time he’s taken me out oppo that way. He’s got a lot of talent. It takes a good swing to hit the ball out that way.”

So while the result wasn’t what Cole was looking for, he feels he’s taken a step forward to righting the ship. His ERA has crept up from 2.73 to 3.30 over his last three starts and the Pirates have lost all three games.

“I think there’s a couple of opportunities to go back and look at some sequences where we executed pitches and ask why the fell in, but it’s important to not overcook [it] because a lot of those situations, we executed pitches and we didn’t get rewarded,” Cole said.

BULLPEN BLOWUP

The Pittsburgh bullpen — particularly the back end — had an outstanding six-game road trip. As the Pirates won five of six over the Dodgers and San Francisco Giants, Neftali Feliz, Felipe Rivero and Tony Watson combined to throw 10.2 innings while giving up one earned run. They had 11 strikeouts and five walks. Watson collected three saves.

So they were probably due for an off night, and boy did it come. With Watson on the shelf after throwing 57 pitches in three days from Tuesday to Thursday, manager Clint Hurdle went to Rivero in the eighth and Feliz in the ninth.

Neither man could pitch a clean inning, as Rivero gave up a pair to tie the game and Feliz gave up one more as the Marlins pulled ahead in the ninth. Both players bounced back to escape the inning, but the damage was too much for the Pirates to overcome.

“I noticed that I was opening up a little bit and leaving the ball up a little,” Feliz said through interpreter Mike Gonzalez. “That’s when I started making some adjustments and closing things down.”

Feliz though he may have overthought the first sequence of his inning, when he walked Realmuto and then gave up back-to-back hits to light-hitting Robert Andino and Miguel Rojas.

“Prior to the game I was able to study some of those hitters and even to evaluate some of their weaknesses, but when you come out there and start pitching, you just want to pitch what you know to pitch — your game — and you want to feel comfortable out there,” he said. “Sometimes it works and sometimes, it doesn’t.”

UP NEXT

Chad Kuhl will take the mound for the Pirates Saturday. He’ll face David Phelps.

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