Tucker Picks Up Win for Second Day in a Row in The Show Tournament
The MLB The Show 20 Players tournament is coming down to the wire as the season is in its final two days of competition. The contenders are separating themselves from the rest of the field, while other guys are looking to just finish out the season on a high note. Cole Tucker is one of the guys who is trying to have fun, but he had a chance to play spoiler on Sunday night taking on some of the top competition in tournament play. Of his four games on Sunday, two came against players who are currently on the top eight players list competing for a chance to play in the playoffs.
He started off the day against the man who leads the Players League, Joey Gallo and the Texas Rangers. Trevor Williams got the start and things did not go well right from the get go. Tucker gave up a three run home run and a two run home run in the first inning and was down 6-0 before even coming to the plate. Tucker added a run in the bottom of the first with an RBI single by Josh Bell. Things would not get bettet for Tucker as Gallo added three more runs and shut Tucker out for the rest of the game as the Pirates fell 9-1. It was Tucker's biggest loss of the tournament and he was looking for a bounce back effort.
Tucker would look to rebound as he moved to the AL West to take on Carl Edwards Jr. and the Seattle Mariners. Tucker started Jameson Taillon and this one was a tight nit contest throughout. The two players headed into the bottom of the 2nd tied at 0-0 but, Tucker would break the tie calling on Jose Osuna to pinch hit with a runner on second and one out. Osuna would hit a ground ball single to right field putting the Pirates on the board 1-0. Kyle Crick would come on in the third to finish out the game with a scoreless inning and Tucker picked up his fifth win of the tournament and moved his record to 5-18.
Tucker would take his momentum into his next match-up against top 8 contender Bo Bichette and the Tornto Blue Jays. Tucker got out to the early lead as Gregory Polanco, Tucker's tournament MVP to this point, lined an RBI single into right giving the Pirates a 1-0 lead. Trevor Williams would get the start once again looking to redeem himself after a rough outing to start the day. This outing wouldn't get much better as he gave up another three-run home run in the bottom of the first and Tucker was behind 3-1. Tucker gave up six more runs over the next two innings and fell 9-1 for the second time on the day.
Tucker ended the day taking on Lance McCullers Jr. and the Houston Astros as he looked to go .500 for the second day in a row. Tucker started the game with a bang hitting back-to-back home runs with Gregory Polanco and Josh Bell to get out to a 3-0 lead with one out. However, McCullers Jr. would tie it up in the bottom half of the first and Tucker and the Pirates were back to square one. Tucker would retake the lead hitting an RBI single with himself to push the score to 4-3, but McCullers tied it once again and the teams headed to extra innings. McCullers would get the last laugh hitting a walk-off RBI double to hand Tucker his third loss of the night.
Tucker now sits at 5-20 in tournament play with one more night of action to go before the playoffs. It has been fun watching Tucker go through the tournament and seeing at least some form of baseball in these trying times. Hopefully Tucker and his team will be retaking the field for real very soon, but the tournament has been a good way to simulate the excitement. Tucker has one more day to try to knock competitors off their path to the playoffs. There are five players sitting within a game and a half of the eighth spot in the field and the competition is sure to heat up tonight.
Tucker enters the final day of play with three games as he looks to end on a positive note. He will take on Tommy Kahnle (NYY), Jeff McNeil (NYM), and Jon Duplantier (ARI) in his triple header. The action begins at 9 pm and you can watch the action live on Tucker's twitch page by clicking here.
Comments
Post a Comment