Gerrit Cole is the Pirates ace and one of the best pitchers in baseball, but in this particular game he needed a little lift from his offense to secure yet another win.
But that doesn’t mean Cole wasn’t very good, again, because he was. It just took him a few innings to really find his best stuff, and once he did he shut the lights out on the Indians.
The Pirates used a 5-run fifth to take control of the game and then let Cole take care of the rest as they beat the Indians, 5-3, before a crowd of 36,812 at PNC Park.