Volquez throws heat, struggles with control in 4-2 loss

Edinson Volquez threw harder than usual but issued five walks as the Pirates lost 4-2 to the Mets Tuesday night.

Volquez only allowed two runs, so focusing on him might seem strange, but he was clearly the story. He routinely threw in the mid-90s, reaching as high as (I believe) 98 MPH, but he labored through five innings and seemingly had much more trouble throwing strikes than he's had in other starts this season. He gave up a run in the third on an RBI single by Bobby Abreu, and another in the fourth on doubles by Ruben Tejada and Juan Lagares.

Jon Niese had control issues himself, and the Pirates tied the game in the sixth on a bases-loaded two-run single by Starling Marte. And so, when the Pirates had to replace Volquez in a tie game in the bottom of the inning, they turned to ... Jeanmar Gomez, who immediately gave up two runs before being replaced by Justin Wilson, who pitched the next 1.2 innings and dominated. This was frustrating to watch, but arguably the biggest problem was that Volquez needed 106 pitches to get through five innings. The Pirates failed to score in the late innings despite putting a bunch of runners on base (stop me if you've heard this one before -- they went 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position), and they lost by two.