Pirates ace Gerrit Cole will miss his next start Monday against the Cubs and will instead travel to Los Angeles to have his a specialist examine his sore elbow, Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review writes (all Twitter links). An MRI did not reveal that Cole has ligament damage (and the Bucs haven’t yet placed him on the DL).
Cole has a fine 3.55 ERA, 7.5 K/9 and 2.5 BB/9 in 114 innings this season, but he’s pitched uncharacteristically poorly in his last four starts, with a 7.06 ERA and a .973 OPS against in that span. Losing him for any significant period of time would be a serious blow to the Pirates, who remain in the race for a National League Wild Card spot — the Bucs’ rotation has improved greatly this month thanks to strong performances from Jameson Taillon, Ivan Nova, Chad Kuhl and Ryan Vogelsong, but their rotation had previously been a significant problem.
Biertempfel guesses rookie Trevor Williams will take Cole’s start on Monday, although he notes that newcomer Drew Hutchison (who the Pirates acquired at last month’s deadline for Francisco Liriano and prospects) could also be a possibility. Williams, acquired in an offseason trade with the Marlins, has never pitched in the Majors.
Do you think Cole’ sore elbow was caused by Jake Arieta’s scheduled start on Monday. Just askin.’
Yeah he’s been awful for 4 consecutive starts because he’s worried about pitching against Arrieta. You must have a PhD in psychology, what insight, you’re amazing.
Because arrieta is pitching like Cy young right now… Lol. Idiot
2.62 ERA. On a team with 82 wins. Pirates are garbage lol
Says the fan of the cursed team……..
—Billy the Goat
You’re a moron
Hey, AddisonStreet started it. Until the Cubs actually do win something, you shouldn’t trash talk another team. No doubt the Cubbies are a better team but you never know come the playoffs. The Cubs starters aren’t quite as dominant as the were earlier in the year.
To lumberco and a1544: One would think that you would use facts and examples rather than insults if you could in discussing these two pitchers. Let me illustrate: From mid-June through the end of the 2015 season, Arrieta went 15-1, while Cole was 8-6. From mid-June 2015 and now, Arrieta’s regular season record is 31-6; Coles’s is 15-15. Arrieta actually WON a Cy Young award last year and threw a complete game 4-0 shutout in the Wild Card game against Cole, who yielded all four runs in his five innings. A comparison of stats by both men finds Arrieta, unlike Cole, at or near the top of virtually every positive pitching category.
As a Pirate fan for the past 55 years, I love my Pirates but understand that something isn’t true (“Cole is an ace.”) just because pittsburgh announcers say it.
Finally, sorry you missed the sarcasm of my original post.
As bad as it sounds, I almost hope there is something wrong with his elbow and it’s not just his IMO bad attitude that he’s carried every since he didn’t get a significant offseason raise.
Pitching with a bad attitude and losing games because of it always gets you more money in arbitration and free agency. . He was pretty good until he went on the DL in june
Actually, I didn’t think Cole looked right all year. Not only in the way he was pitching, but also the way he was carrying himself on the field.
Half of Pittsburgh believes nothing is wrong with Garrit He is is a head case who either lost his bulldog attitude or is pouting because he was not shown the money before this seasons do is not trying on purpose. A) he still has the attitude. You saw it when he would give up hits. B) Pitching poorly on purpose always gets you more money in arbitration. He had a slow tart due to a rib cage injury in the offseason. Did good until his DL stint. Came back & it looked like he had velocity but no movement. Even if it is still just the triceps, he must not be able to put enough spin on the ball. Hope he can at least get confirmation that the elbow is sound & will get bett with rest
Well seeing that Williams is pitching tonight at Indy, I think that rules him out along with Glasnow. Brault pitched (badly) 3 days ago, so I doubt it would be him. Hutchison has pitched like crap and they don’t want to lose a year service time by calling him up until after rosters expand, so I doubt it is him. Duncan could be a possability, but he isn’t on the 40 man, so I scratch him. That leaves Locke to make a return!
Locke pitched 2 innings in relief of Taillon tonight so he is out too.
Then that leaves Cole to pitch!
Actually, since I am a day ahead of myself apparently (thought it was Sunday!) then Brault would be an option.
Hopefully Brault has a rebound game. I was originally guessing Williams until he threw tonight. Speaking of Locke, he seems to have found a home in the bullpen. Has looked pretty good there as a long guy. Hope he maintains that .
Just heard it will be Brault