The Pirates took the next step in their pitching strategy last night, employing an opener for the first time this year.
Dillon Peters, who has been lights out in a multiple-inning relief role, started off with two scoreless innings.
Bryse Wilson, who has struggled in the rotation so far this year, followed with four shutout innings.
The downside was that Wil Crowe, who had yet to give up a run prior to last night, finally fell back to Earth with a rough outing.
The biggest standout here was Wilson. This was his best outing of the year, working about the same amount as his previous three starts, but with much better results. It’s too early to say if that’s due to the opener strategy. However, this is worth trying again to try and replicate the results.
Even with Crowe’s struggles on this night, the overall results from Crowe and Peters so far have been positive. If the Pirates can get the same result from Wilson, that will only boost this pitching staff. We have now confirmed that Crowe is human, and I fear we’ll probably discover the same thing about Peters eventually. I just think it would be nice to give those two a break from time to time, and if Wilson joins that trio, you can accomplish that.
Of course, the team does need real, traditional starting pitchers. That’s a topic I’ll focus on later today.
Pirates Prospects Spotlight
Pirates Links
Prospect Watch: Three Early Games on the Schedule; Strong Outing for Mike Burrows
Daily Video Rundown: Geovanny Planchart, Rodolfo Nolasco, Nick Gonzales
Pirates Discussion: Pirates 1, Brewers 3
P2Daily Articles:
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- Updated Draft Prospect Rankings from Baseball America and ESPN
- Estimating the Pirates’ 2022 MLB Draft Pool
Other Pirates Coverage:
- Danny Demilio: Pirates Takeaways: Shelton’s Use Of Opener Paid Off Despite Loss
- Danny Demilio: From the Pirates Clubhouse: Derek Shelton, Bryse Wilson After Pirates 3-1 Loss to Brewers
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