Cole Tucker Wraps up The Show Tournament With Two Win Day

Throughout the 2020 MLB The Show Players Tournament, Cole Tucker had not seen a multi-win day through the first four weeks of play. However, that streak would be broken on the final day of the tournament as he picked up two wins in one day for the first time in the tournament, finishing Monday 2-2.

Over the month of April, the MLB, The MLB Players Association, and SONY Entertainment teamed up to bring you the 2020 MLB The Show Players tournament to offer a distraction during these trying times. Cole Tucker has been providing lots of entertainment throughout the tournament with big plays and even bigger reactions, but he hasn't really put up results on the scoreboard. However, that all changed on the final day of tournament play as he picked up two wins in one day for the first time since the tournament began.

Tucker ended the tournament with a four game slate after one of his games from Sunday got rescheduled for the final day of the tournament. Of those four games, Tucker would take on two competitors for one of the Top 8 playoff spots in the tournament as he tried to play spoiler while getting out of the bottom two spots in the tournament. Tucker would start his night with a trip to New York as he took on Tommy Kahnle (NYY) and Jeff McNeil (NYM) in his first two match-ups of the day trying to play spoiler.

The day started in the Bronx, New York as Tucker took on Kahnle and the New York Yankees. After two rough starts in yesterday's tournament play, Tucker once again went with Trevor Williams as he looked for a bounce back with the right hander. After a scoreless first inning, Tucker would get out in front hitting a solo home run with Ke'Bryan Hayes to go ahead 1-0. That run would prove to be enough as Nick Burdi and Keone Kela each threw scoreless innings and Tucker picked up a win in the opener and improved to 6-20 in tournament play.

Up next, was a battle against Jeff McNeil and the New York Mets as Tucker looked to make it two in a row. Joe Musgrove started the second game of the day and pitching would rule the day early. Neither player was able to score in the first inning and the game was tied 0-0 heading to the second. McNeil would be the first one on the scoreboard as he hit a two-run home run in the top of the 2nd to take a 2-0 lead. McNeil would add three more runs in the top of the third and Tucker couldn't get anything else going offensively as he fell 5-0 and moved to 1-1 on the day.

Tucker would finish his day with games against Jon Duplantier of the Arizona Diamondbacks and Carlos Santana of the Cleveland Indians. Neither game had any playoff implications and were just playing for fun to finish out the tournament. Tucker would split the two games, dropping his game against Duplantier while coming back to win his final game of the tournament against Santana. The split moved his final record to 7-22 in the tournament and got him to climb a little higher in the standings finishing tied with Niko Goodrum of the Detroit Tigers.

Tucker was able to play spoiler on the final day of play, helping knock Kahnle and the New York Yankees out of the top eight with his win earlier in the night. The top eight in the tournament are now set as it will be Blake Snell (TB), Joey Gallo (TEX), Bo Bichette (TOR), Jeff McNeil (NYM), Dwight Smith Jr. (BAL), Ian Happ (CHC), Gavin Lux (LAD), and Lucas Giolito (CHW) battling it out for the MLB The Show 20 Players League Championship. Tucker will watch from home as he gets ready for a possible 2020 season on the field with Pittsburgh.

Looking at Tucker's MLB The Show Tournament MVP, it would have to be the man he had the most success with, Gregory Polanco. Tucker hit four home runs with Polanco in the tournament and regularly put him in the number three hole in the lineup. On the pitching side, we are going to give the award to reliever Nick Burdi. In many of Tucker's wins, Burdi would come in and throw scoreless innings preserving leads and leading to wins. Tucker relied on Burdi as both a closer and a set-up man and he performed in every situation.

While the future seems unclear for the 2020 MLB season, there are several plans in place to somehow play baseball this season. No matter how soon that day comes, we will be waiting with baited breath as we hope to see Cole Tucker and the Pittsburgh Pirates take the field for real sooner rather than later.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ranking the Top Five Pirates Closers Since the 2000 Season

Image
For the Pittsburgh Pirates, the closer's role has always been a strength for the team since they started keeping track of saves. From Kent Tekulve to Elroy Face the Pirates have regularly had a reliable arm for the ninth inning. Today, we will be ranking the top five players to hold the closer's role since the 2000 season. It is one of the best moments in a game for the home team's fans when their team is winning heading into the ninth. The video board goes black, the music gets a little bit louder, and the anticipation in the stadium begins to build. The video board suddenly lights up with a highlight reel full if strikeouts and game-winning plays as the closer comes barrelling out of the bullpen for another save opportunity. Over the last several years, a save opportunity has been almost guaranteed for the Pirates with one of their top arms serving as closer. Each of Pittsburgh's last four closers has at least made one all-star game appearance and has reco
Read more

Ranking the a Top Five Pirates Second Baseman Since the 2000 Season

Image
We continue our trip around the diamond for our Saturday Morning Rankings as we look at the top 10 Pirates second basemen since the 2000 season. It has been a position filled with talent on both sides of the ball as they have led the Pirates through the last several seasons. Over the years, the second base position has been an interesting one for the Pirates as any who manned the position did not fit the typical mold. In a position that usually hits for contact, while playing good defense, the Pirates have had a ragtag of talent from utility players trying to find their full-time homes on the field, to part-time players who have had breakout seasons. Either way, the men who have manned second base in recent years have usually been team leaders and many played an instrumental role in turning the Pirates from loveable losers to playoff contenders in the early 2010s. Today, we are going to look back at the men who have played Second Base for the Pirates over the last 20 season
Read more

Pittsburgh Pirates 2020 Grade Report: First Base

Image
We continue our position by position grade report as we move to first base, a position that saw a lot of rotation. It was the group that had one of the most impressive and least impressive players on the team this season. When the National League implemented the Designated Hitter for the 2020 season, it set the Pittsburgh Pirates first base situation for a loop. The only clear power hitter on the Pirates was first baseman Josh Bell and the Pirates new there would be a carousel of players rotating through the first base position. In total, five different players cycled through first base for the Pirates, but the two front runners had very different seasons. For one, it was a season full of disappointment while for the other it was a break-out year that might have put him back on the Pirates radar for the future. Josh Bell went through one of the worst seasons of his career, while Colin Moran had one of his best at the plate. While the offense had its ups and downs, the defen
Read more