The Pittsburgh Pirates are home, but former Pirates are starring

Eight former Pittsburgh Pirates are playing prominent roles for 2019 post-season teams, including both probable starters in Game Five of the Houston-Tampa Bay series.

Imagine how fans of the Pittsburgh Pirates feel about this post-season.

While the Pirates are home licking their substantial wounds from the recent 93-loss season, eight recent Pirates are playing prominent roles for the various teams still in contention.

Two of them, Houston Astros starter Gerrit Cole and Tampa Bay Rays starter Tyler Glasnow, will probably be selected to oppose each other Thursday in the decisive fifth game of the American League Division Series.

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Cole dominated Tampa in the series’ second game, shutting out the Rays into the eighth inning and striking out 15 as Houston won 3-1. That was one night after Glasnow started the series’ first game for Tampa. He allowed two runs in four and one-third innings of a 6-2 loss in Houston.

Cole came up with the Pirates in 2013 and was 59-42 in 127 starts before being traded to Houston following the 2017 season. The Pirates got four players in exchange for him: Joe Musgrove, Colin Moran, Jason Martin, and Michael Feliz. None has approached Cole’s contributions to the Astros, which across his first two seasons have included a 35-10 record, a pair of sub 3.00 ERAs and 602 strikeouts.

Cole and Glasnow were teammates with Pittsburgh Pirates for Glasnow’s first two seasons. When Cole was shipped out, many envisioned Glasnow as his successor, although injuries slowed his progress toward that role. In their search for a more reliable mound presence, the Pirates in July of 2018 traded him, outfielder Austin Meadows and a minor leaguer to the Rays in exchange for Chris Archer.

Injuries slowed Glasnow again this season, but he returned in September to make four starts, enough to establish his health. For the season he went 6-1 with a 1.78 ERA, although in just 60 and one-third innings.

Archer, meanwhile, has given Pittsburgh little of value. In 33 starts for the Pirates, he’s 6-12 with an ERA barely under 5.00.

Meadows, by the way, batted .291 with 333 home runs this season as Tampa Bay’s regular left fielder. In the division series, he has driven in three runs.

On Monday night, yet another former Pirate, Charlie Morton, shut down the Astros 10-3. It was Morton who pitched the Rays past Oakland in the American League wild-card game 5-1 last week.

Morton pitched eight seasons for the Pirates, who traded him to Philadelphia prior to the 2016 season for a minor leaguer who has since left the game. Since leaving Pittsburgh, Morton has compiled a 46-17 record for the Phillies, Astros, and Rays, which he signed as a free agent prior to the 2019 season.

Pirate fans who can’t bear to watch Glasnow, Morton or Cole take turns leading the Rays or Astros will find little solace rooting for most of the other post-season teams.

They can’t root for the Braves, where Matt Joyce starts in right field. Joyce was a Pirate in 2016, batting .242 before leaving as a free agent. Atlanta’s closer, for the record, is Mark Melancon, a Pirate from 2013-16. The Pirates traded Melancon to the Washington Nationals for reliever Felipe Vazquez and Taylor  Hearn, a minor leaguer at the time who has since debuted with the Texas Rangers.

In the division series, Melancon has pitched three times against St. Louis, accumulating a loss and two saves.

The other National League division series, between the Dodgers and Washington Nationals, could hinge on the contributions of bench players. If so, former Pirate David Freese is likely to figure prominently.  Freese, a member of the 2016-18 Pirates, is four-for-seven in the series’ first four games. During the regular season, Freese batted .315 as a right-handed platoon player. The Dodgers acquired him from Pittsburgh for the 2018  stretch run in exchange for a minor leaguer.

The Yankees will bring a talented roster to the American League Championship Series. And although former Pittsburgh Pirates do not play a prominent role in the Yankee makeup, New York does have pitcher J.A. Happ. He was 2-8 in 30 starts for the Yankees. In 2015 Happ joined Cole and Morton as part of the Pirate rotation, going 7-2.