10-17-2018, 01:51 PM
The adjustments have come both ways and Pittsburgh Pirates rookie outfielder Austin Meadows is doing better at them than opposing pitchers.
Through the first three games of a series against Arizona that concludes Sunday at PNC Park Youth Danny Shelton Jersey , Meadows has gotten the better of Diamondbacks pitching. Despite going 0-for-4 Saturday, he’s 5-for-13 in the series with a run, a walk and a stolen base.
In fact, Meadows told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review that pitchers are only adjusting to him “a little bit” after his early success.
“They’re throwing a little more of their off-speed early in the count for strikes,” he said. “For me, it’s just going out there and having the same mentality I did when I got here. Having that fastball-first mentality and adjusting to certain things and staying in my zone and not swinging at their pitches.”
Meadows, 23, a 2013 first-round draft pick who is healthy after injury setbacks, started on fire after his call-up from Triple-A Indianapolis on May 18, but going from .409 to .330 is probably just leveling off to something closer to what he can maintain.
He has made 25 starts — he batted leadoff Saturday in a 7-2 Pirates loss — divided among all three outfield spots. He has hits in 20 of the 25 starts, including 12 of the past 14, with six doubles Youth Jason McCourty Jersey , two triples, five homers, 11 RBIs, 14 runs and five stolen bases.
Pirates manager Clint Hurdle expects that opposing teams will use whatever resources they have to try to shift the advantage to the pitchers.
“We’ve seen a punch-back already,” said Hurdle, who doesn’t sound as if he expects opponents to fully solve Meadows any time soon.
“If you’re not impressed by Meadows’ at-bats, you need to go watch another sport right now,” he said.
Pittsburgh (36-40) has lost four straight and five of six. Arizona (43-33) has won three in a row, five of six, and will go for a four-game series sweep Sunday.
Arizona right-hander Clay Buchholz (1-1, 2.94 ERA) is scheduled to face Pirates right-hander Trevor Williams (6-4, 4.00).
Buchholz has three no-decisions in a row. His most recent start last Sunday was one of the Diamondbacks’ most frustrating losses.
He allowed one earned run in 5 2/3 innings and Arizona went into the ninth inning with a 3-1 lead before the New York Mets came back against closer Brad Boxberger to win 5-3.
“We got some very solid pitching Youth Trent Brown Jersey , and Buccholz handed it off to the bullpen,” manager Torey Lovullo said.
Buchholz was subdued but “felt pretty good for the most part.”
Buchholz has been strong on the road with no wins to show for it — 0-1 with a 2.12 ERA and a .180 average against in three starts.
He is 0-1 with a 10.13 ERA in two career starts against the Pirates.
Williams is coming off a gem. He pitched seven one-hit, scoreless innings and struck out seven Monday in a 1-0 win over Milwaukee. It was his first win since May 15.
Against the Diamondbacks, Williams is 1-1 with a 3.21 ERA in three career starts. That includes a 13-8 road loss on June 12 when he gave up six runs (one earned) in the first inning and two in the third.
Tennessee safety Kevin Byard is hoping to scratch one more thing off his bucket list.
The second-year safety tied for the league-lead with eight interceptions and led the NFL with 10 total takeaways, though he has yet to reach the end zone. Byard sees no better time than Saturday when the Titans (9-7) visit the Kansas City Chiefs (10-6) in an AFC wild-card game in his postseason debut.
”I’m just hoping to get in the end zone this time I can get an interception,” Byard said. ”That’s just my whole thing, trying to help this team anyway I can.”
Byard just earned his second AFC defensive player of the week award for adding two more interceptions in a 15-10 win over Jacksonville in helping the Titans clinch their first playoff berth since 2008. Scoring off Alex Smith won’t be easy with the Chiefs quarterback having been intercepted only five times all season.
Coach Mike Mularkey believes Byard is the kind of player who can help the Titans win their first playoff game since January 2004. Mularkey also has no problem with how confident Byard is.
”He backs it up, that’s the best part about it,” Mularkey said. ”He’s not a big talker, trash talker. He’s not cocky at all. He’s a good football player, has a lot of confidence. We all have a lot of confidence in Kevin. He deserves it. He shows if you do what you’re asked to do and you’re in the right place, good things happen and it continues to happen for him.”
The Titans took advantage of geography in making Byard the first pick of the third round in 2016 after he set a school record with 19 interceptions at Middle Tennessee where he landed after Kentucky pulled a scholarship late. His performance wasn’t enough to earn Byard an invitation to the NFL combine.
Once with the Titans Youth Tre'Quan Smith Jersey , the 5-foot-11, 212-pound Byard impressed coaches and defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau with how quickly he picked up the complicated schemes. Byard started the final seven games of his rookie season. Byard didn’t get his first interception in the NFL until his 20th career game, but he’s the kind of safety that gets his hands on passes in bunches.
Byard picked off three passes in a win at Cleveland on Oct. 22, then he grabbed two more in a win over Baltimore on Nov. 5. That put him atop the NFL for a few weeks with six interceptions .
That’s a big reason why Byard won the fan voting to start at safety for the AFC in the Pro Bowl. But Byard wound up as an alternate after voting by coaches and players, though he said Pro Bowl safety Eric Weddle reached out to him after the roster was announced. He says Weddle told him to keep his head up and offered to watch film with him.
LeBeau isn’t about to compare Byard to safeties he’s coached in the past, like Troy Polamalu who’s among Byard’s football role models with Ed Reed and Brian Dawkins. That would be too much pressure for any young player. But LeBeau says like Polamalu, he knew quickly that Byard would do OK in the NFL.
”He’s a player that’s on the rise no question about it, and he’s playing great football,” LeBeau said.
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Through the first three games of a series against Arizona that concludes Sunday at PNC Park Youth Danny Shelton Jersey , Meadows has gotten the better of Diamondbacks pitching. Despite going 0-for-4 Saturday, he’s 5-for-13 in the series with a run, a walk and a stolen base.
In fact, Meadows told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review that pitchers are only adjusting to him “a little bit” after his early success.
“They’re throwing a little more of their off-speed early in the count for strikes,” he said. “For me, it’s just going out there and having the same mentality I did when I got here. Having that fastball-first mentality and adjusting to certain things and staying in my zone and not swinging at their pitches.”
Meadows, 23, a 2013 first-round draft pick who is healthy after injury setbacks, started on fire after his call-up from Triple-A Indianapolis on May 18, but going from .409 to .330 is probably just leveling off to something closer to what he can maintain.
He has made 25 starts — he batted leadoff Saturday in a 7-2 Pirates loss — divided among all three outfield spots. He has hits in 20 of the 25 starts, including 12 of the past 14, with six doubles Youth Jason McCourty Jersey , two triples, five homers, 11 RBIs, 14 runs and five stolen bases.
Pirates manager Clint Hurdle expects that opposing teams will use whatever resources they have to try to shift the advantage to the pitchers.
“We’ve seen a punch-back already,” said Hurdle, who doesn’t sound as if he expects opponents to fully solve Meadows any time soon.
“If you’re not impressed by Meadows’ at-bats, you need to go watch another sport right now,” he said.
Pittsburgh (36-40) has lost four straight and five of six. Arizona (43-33) has won three in a row, five of six, and will go for a four-game series sweep Sunday.
Arizona right-hander Clay Buchholz (1-1, 2.94 ERA) is scheduled to face Pirates right-hander Trevor Williams (6-4, 4.00).
Buchholz has three no-decisions in a row. His most recent start last Sunday was one of the Diamondbacks’ most frustrating losses.
He allowed one earned run in 5 2/3 innings and Arizona went into the ninth inning with a 3-1 lead before the New York Mets came back against closer Brad Boxberger to win 5-3.
“We got some very solid pitching Youth Trent Brown Jersey , and Buccholz handed it off to the bullpen,” manager Torey Lovullo said.
Buchholz was subdued but “felt pretty good for the most part.”
Buchholz has been strong on the road with no wins to show for it — 0-1 with a 2.12 ERA and a .180 average against in three starts.
He is 0-1 with a 10.13 ERA in two career starts against the Pirates.
Williams is coming off a gem. He pitched seven one-hit, scoreless innings and struck out seven Monday in a 1-0 win over Milwaukee. It was his first win since May 15.
Against the Diamondbacks, Williams is 1-1 with a 3.21 ERA in three career starts. That includes a 13-8 road loss on June 12 when he gave up six runs (one earned) in the first inning and two in the third.
Tennessee safety Kevin Byard is hoping to scratch one more thing off his bucket list.
The second-year safety tied for the league-lead with eight interceptions and led the NFL with 10 total takeaways, though he has yet to reach the end zone. Byard sees no better time than Saturday when the Titans (9-7) visit the Kansas City Chiefs (10-6) in an AFC wild-card game in his postseason debut.
”I’m just hoping to get in the end zone this time I can get an interception,” Byard said. ”That’s just my whole thing, trying to help this team anyway I can.”
Byard just earned his second AFC defensive player of the week award for adding two more interceptions in a 15-10 win over Jacksonville in helping the Titans clinch their first playoff berth since 2008. Scoring off Alex Smith won’t be easy with the Chiefs quarterback having been intercepted only five times all season.
Coach Mike Mularkey believes Byard is the kind of player who can help the Titans win their first playoff game since January 2004. Mularkey also has no problem with how confident Byard is.
”He backs it up, that’s the best part about it,” Mularkey said. ”He’s not a big talker, trash talker. He’s not cocky at all. He’s a good football player, has a lot of confidence. We all have a lot of confidence in Kevin. He deserves it. He shows if you do what you’re asked to do and you’re in the right place, good things happen and it continues to happen for him.”
The Titans took advantage of geography in making Byard the first pick of the third round in 2016 after he set a school record with 19 interceptions at Middle Tennessee where he landed after Kentucky pulled a scholarship late. His performance wasn’t enough to earn Byard an invitation to the NFL combine.
Once with the Titans Youth Tre'Quan Smith Jersey , the 5-foot-11, 212-pound Byard impressed coaches and defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau with how quickly he picked up the complicated schemes. Byard started the final seven games of his rookie season. Byard didn’t get his first interception in the NFL until his 20th career game, but he’s the kind of safety that gets his hands on passes in bunches.
Byard picked off three passes in a win at Cleveland on Oct. 22, then he grabbed two more in a win over Baltimore on Nov. 5. That put him atop the NFL for a few weeks with six interceptions .
That’s a big reason why Byard won the fan voting to start at safety for the AFC in the Pro Bowl. But Byard wound up as an alternate after voting by coaches and players, though he said Pro Bowl safety Eric Weddle reached out to him after the roster was announced. He says Weddle told him to keep his head up and offered to watch film with him.
LeBeau isn’t about to compare Byard to safeties he’s coached in the past, like Troy Polamalu who’s among Byard’s football role models with Ed Reed and Brian Dawkins. That would be too much pressure for any young player. But LeBeau says like Polamalu, he knew quickly that Byard would do OK in the NFL.
”He’s a player that’s on the rise no question about it, and he’s playing great football,” LeBeau said.
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