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Tyler Glasnow during spring training. The big right-hander has held opponents hitless in his last two starts at AAA Indianapolis, but he walked 11 in the two  games combined.
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Pirates notebook: Glasnow continues to dominate despite control issues

Peter Diana/Post-Gazette

Pirates notebook: Glasnow continues to dominate despite control issues

Clint Hurdle speaks with Class AAA Indianapolis manager Dean Treanor a couple of times a week, so he’s aware of what starting pitcher Tyler Glasnow has been up to.

“He’s not letting anybody else play very much,” Hurdle joked Thursday.

Hurdle was referring to the fact that Glasnow had not allowed a hit in either of his past two starts. Those 13 hitless, scoreless innings, however, have included a combined 11 walks.

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“I do think that’s a real number,” Hurdle said. “When you’re averaging 4½ walks a game, that’s a number that you just have to pay attention to.”

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Glasnow, a 22-year-old right-hander, is the top prospect in the Pirates’ minor league system, according to Baseball America. He has a 1.61 ERA in 15 starts. In 84 innings, he has struck out 100 batters but walked 47, or 5.0 per nine innings.

His past two outings illustrated his exceptional potential and the work still to be done. He walked six in six hitless, scoreless innings June 17, then walked five in seven hitless, scoreless innings Wednesday.

“I think one of last measures that we look for is command,” Hurdle said. “Triple-A command is hard to kind of foresee into big league command. There’s so many weak pockets in triple-A lineups, where guys can have command problems but you get to a certain part of the lineup, you just get things taken care of. Big league lineups aren’t the same. They’re not as forgiving.”

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McCutchen sits

Hurdle did not play Andrew McCutchen Thursday, and acknowledged that he had considered sitting the center fielder for longer than one game as he dealt with poor performance and a swollen right thumb.

“We’ve thought about a lot of different things,” Hurdle said. “And we’re trying them one at a time. That could be an option here down the road.”

McCutchen is hitting .238 with a .315 on-base percentage and a strikeout rate about 7 percent higher than his career average.

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Hurdle said Thursday’s day off was not specifically related to McCutchen’s thumb, which began bugging him in late May. Athletic trainer Todd Tomczyk said Wednesday the thumb required a “maintenance routine.”

“This is the next option,” Hurdle said. “We’ve tried moving some things around, we’ve tried some different routines, he’s tried some different things as well to try and spark performance.”

Sunday question

Hurdle said Juan Nicasio (restricted list) was on his way back to rejoin the Pirates, but he did not announce a starting pitcher for Sunday’s game.

Bill Brink: bbrink@post-gazette.com and Twitter @BrinkPG.

First Published: June 24, 2016, 4:00 a.m.

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Tyler Glasnow during spring training. The big right-hander has held opponents hitless in his last two starts at AAA Indianapolis, but he walked 11 in the two games combined.  (Peter Diana/Post-Gazette)
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