First off, let me say that, despite Zac Gallen’s putative “aceness” for the team, the true top of our rotation for the last several months has been tonight’s starter, Brandon Pfaadt. He’s been the one giving us the length—6+ innings in 16 of his 21 starts this year, no more than 1 earned run allowed in his last four starts, and so forth. He took the mound tonight against another promising Pirates starter, lefty Marco Gonzales, who came into the game with a 2.70 ERA, though with a small sample size of five starts before tonight.
Brandon struck out Andrew McCutchen to start the ballgame, but Pittsburgh shortstop Oneil Cruz punished the first pitch he saw from Pfaadt, hitting a 472-foot moonshot onto the concourse above the right field bleachers.