With the current state of the Pirates’ rotation, Jon Niese served as somewhat of a constant. Gerrit Cole will likely miss a start and possibly go on the disabled list. Francisco Liriano put forth a promising outing after a couple bad ones; Jeff Locke just did the opposite. Juan Nicasio has lacked consistency. But since mid-May, Niese has provided quality innings to a pitching staff in desperate need of them.
That stretch of outings ended Sunday. Niese pitched ineffectively against the St. Louis Cardinals, who completed a sweep of the Pirates with an 8-3 victory at PNC Park.