Pirates' Ivan Nova: Goes the distance in loss Monday
Nova (1-2) took the loss Monday against the Cardinals despite tossing eight innings of two-run ball on five hits and no walks with three strikeouts.
Nova was incredibly efficient and needed just 78 pitches in his abbreviated complete game, with his only mistakes coming on a solo homer in the third inning before an RBI single from Jose Martinez in the seventh. He threw first-pitch strikes to 18 batters and induced 13 ground ball outs -- both positive signs for a hurler who pitches to contact as he does. Nova has a low K/9 of just 3.6, but he has yet to walk a better through 20 innings and will take a sterling 2.25 ERA into Sunday's start against the Yankees.