The kid gloves are off the Pirates' young pitchers when it comes to pitch counts. That was obvious Wednesday when right-hander Ian Snell was allowed to throw a career-high 131 pitches in a 1-0 loss at Milwaukee.
The Pirates had been very cautious about allowing their starting pitchers to run up high pitch counts in either the major leagues or minor leagues since Neal Huntington became general manager late in the 2007 season. In fact, high Class A Lynchburg pitching coach Bob Milacki was suspended for three days without pay last season when he allowed pitchers to exceed their pitch counts. Pirates manager John Russell, though, defended his decision to allow Snell to throw so many pitches. Russell felt Snell was not laboring and pointed out that he allowed only one run in seven innings.
"His pitch count got up, but he still continued to battle," Russell said. "He was competing tremendously. To shut down that lineup, especially with the way they've been swinging the bat, is a really good job. He tacked on a few more pitches than we would normally go, but we wanted to give him every opportunity to win the game."
Snell had never thrown more than 120 during his six-year career, that coming on Aug. 14, 2007, against Philadelphia. He did not have a problem with being left in the game.
"I was thankful (Russell) didn't take me out because I wanted to go as long as I could," Snell said.
Snell will have an extra day of rest before his next start next Tuesday against Milwaukee. The Pirates were off Thursday before facing Cincinnati on Friday in the opener of a three-game series and five-game homestand.
