Luck Not on Tucker's Side in Day Two of Players Tournament
After kicking off the MLB The Show 20 Players tournament on Monday, Pittsburgh Pirates shortstop Cole Tucker was at it again on Wednesday for day two of the tournament. It wasn't Tucker's lucky day as a walk-off loss started things off and led to another 1-3 day, dropping his tournament record to just 2-6. He would start day two off with a match against David Dahl of the Colorado Rockies and, early in the game, it looked like the luck was going to be in Tucker's side.
He took the lead against Dahl in inning number one as Brian Reynolds reached base on a dropped third strike and brought home the first run of the game to give Tucker a 1-0 lead. He extended his lead to 2-0 by innings end and things were going his way as he sent Chris Archer to the mound for his second start of the tournament. After a scoreless first inning, Archer allowed two runs in the second inning as the Rockies tied the game at 2-2. Tucker would go to the bullpen in the third calling on Keone Kela, but the closer could not shut the game down as a walk-off double gave David Dahl and the Rockies the 3-2 win and dropped Tucker's record to 1-4.
Tucker's day continued when he took on Lucas Giolito, who just threw a no-hitter in his previous game. It was a bullpen game as Tucker started with Kyle Crick and got tagged for two runs in the first inning falling behind 2-0. Richard Rodriguez and Nick Burdi would throw the final two innings, but things did not get better for Tucker, as he fell 7-0 and dropped his record to 0-2 on day two of the tournament. Looking to turn things around, Tucker headed into a division match-up with Josh Hader from the Milwaukee Brewers.
Tucker used Jameson Taillon to start game three of the day and he held the Brewers off the board in the first as it was tied 0-0 after one. The Bucs offense would get going in inning number two as a Gregory Polanco solo home run got Tucker ahead 1-0. Bryan Reynolds would add a sacrifice fly to make it 2-0, but the big blow came on a Josh Bell grand slam that gave Tucker and the Bucs a 6-0 lead after two innings of play. Taillon would pitch two scoreless innings before handing the ball over to Kyle Crick in the third. Crick would shut the door and Tucker picked up his first win of day two and his second win of the tournament.
Tucker would end his day taking on the Royals Brett Phillips as he was looking to even his record on the day. However, it wasn't meant to be as Tucker fell to 1-3 on day two and dropped his tournament record to 2-6 after two days of play. While the tournament has not gone Tucker's way so far on the scoreboard, he has been having fun and playing for a good cause while providing a distraction from these strange and unusual times.
Taking look at the NL Central standings, Tucker fell to fifth in the division sitting one came behind Hader and thr Brewers. Matt Carpenter and the St. Louis Cardinals are in third at 2-2, while Amir Garrett's Cincinnati Reds and Ian Happ's Chicago Cubs are tied for first at 6-2. With many more games still on the schedule this season, Tucker has plenty of time to right the ship and get back into the race for the MLB The Show Players tournament championship. There is only one undefeated team left in the tournament with Joey Gallo and the Texas Rangers sitting at 8-0.
After two days off, Cole Tucker will be back in action on Saturday for day three of the MLB The Show 20 Players tournament. He will face Rhys Hoskins (PHI), Fernando Gatos Jr. (SD), Eduardo Rodriguez (BOS), and Blake Snell (TB). The action begins at 9 pm eastern time and you can watch the action on Cole Tucker's twitch account at https://www.twitch.tv/Cotuck. Stay with us to follow Tucker's journey through the MLB The Show 20 Players Tournament.
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