Pirates punt Polanco debut

The highly hyped debut of Gregory Polanco ended with one hit and a 7-3 loss to the Chicago Cubs at PNC Park.
Casey Sadler took the loss in relief (0-1) after allowing four runs in the sixth and seventh innings to snap a deadlock at three.
Andrew McCutchen homered for the Pirates in the third inning (9) to provide two of the three Pirates runs.
The series vs the Cubs finishes today with Brandon Cumpton (1-2) against Chicago's Jason Hammel (6-3) at 7:05

Pirate Hooks

1) Francisco Liriano started the game,but left in the fourth inning with "right side discomfort".
Hope it is not one of those dreaded "Oblique muscle" issues,those things take a lot of time to heal and often can become a chronic injury.

2) I like Starling Marte as a player and like the enthusiasm that he plays with as well,but sometimes that can be a detriment as last night,he took off on a caught fly ball,stood and watched it past second base,didn't re-tag second and was doubled off first.
Just not smart baseball....

3) Gregory Polanco scored a run after his career starting single on Andrew McCutchen's homer,but it was the way he did it that was amusing.
Polanco just roared around the bases like McCutchen had slashed the ball into the gap.
Love seeing the speed,but didn't he see a third base coach or anything?

4) Polanco,Marte and McCutchen are going to be a tremendous defensive outfield,but as the adjustment for Marte took time in left,Polanco will need the period of refinement as well.
Polanco had a ball hit off the heel of his glove that I would have scored an error,but the Pirates scorer tabbed a double.
The threesome will cover a ton of ground,but will need to learn to work together as a unit...

5) One can see the tools of Gregory Polanco,but I especially like his swing.
If you look carefully,you can see a little of Ken Griffey Jr. in the Polanco swing.
Slightly up without being an uppercut,if the Pirates got anywhere close to that type of production-they'd be thrilled.

I'll be in Frederick tonight,but with luck I'll be back with a look at the Indians in the afternoon game in Kansas City....