The Pittsburgh Pirates had to wait several weeks into the season to see just what they got with right-hander Joe Musgrove in an offseason trade with Houston.

It has been about a month since he came off the disabled list after a shoulder injury delayed his season debut Will Grier Jersey , and Musgrove has proved fiercely competitive and fiercely loyal.

Musgrove is 2-1 with a 2.16 ERA for Pittsburgh (35-35) going into his sixth start Sunday, against right-hander Anthony DeSclafani (1-1, 5.40) and the Cincinnati Reds (25-45) in a series finale at PNC Park.

With a 6-2 victory Saturday, the Pirates won their third straight, climbed back to .500 and ensured themselves of winning a series after dropping eight in a row.

The Reds have lost two straight after a three-game winning streak.

Not only is Musgrove averaging more than six innings per start, with 23 strikeouts in 25 innings and a 1.12 WHIP, but also has played with an edge.

“He’s a tough guy,” Pirates catcher Francisco Cervelli said last month. “When he’s on the mound, he’s mean. He’s the kind of guy that you want to have on the mound all the time.”

In his most recent outing, a no-decision Monday in Arizona’s comeback 9-5 win, Musgrove was cruising with a 5-0 lead in the seventh inning when he hit Arizona Diamondbacks outfielder Chris Owings in acknowledged retaliation.

An inning earlier, Diamondbacks right-hander Braden Shipley hit Pirates infielder Josh Harrison — who got plunked 23 times last year and spent time on the DL this season and last because of a broken hand after being hit by pitches — and Pittsburgh rookie Austin Meadows got knocked down by a pitch earlier.

“It’s nothing more than just protecting your teammates,” Musgrove said. “It’s baseball. That’s how the game is played. That’s how I was raised to play the game. You protect your teammates http://www.panthersauthorizedshops.com/ … ler-jersey , especially when a guy gets hit high up and in.”

The Pirates appreciated Musgrove’s loyalty, despite the fact that his retaliatory move might have sparked Arizona’s winning rally.

“That wasn’t the turning point of the game in my eyes,” Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle said. “You can’t control what other people are going to think.

“The importance of teammates taking a stand for one another, I think that is part of the game. Everybody can construct their own narrative afterward. But I know (Harrison) has been hit a ton, been hit a lot. … Just plunking our guys, whether it’s accidental or not, is just not OK.”

Harrison said “it felt good” to have his new teammate stand up for him.

Musgrove has never faced the Reds.

DeSclafani has made six career starts against Pittsburgh, going 1-2 with a 3.41 ERA, but not since Sept. 17, 2016.

DeSclafani missed all of 2017 because of an elbow injury and, like Musgrove, opened this season on the DL because of an oblique strain.

Last Sunday, in his second start this season Jordan Scarlett Jersey , DeSclafani picked up his first win since Sept. 28, 2016, 6-3 over St. Louis. He gave up two runs and 10 hits in five innings, with six strikeouts and two walks.

“I don’t think I was as good as I wanted to be,” DeSclafani said. “There’s definitely a lot of work from here on out. I was falling behind some guys and giving up too many hits.

“But it’s definitely something to build on.”

He has yet to get his setup pitch, his curveball, back to where it once was.

“Definitely still getting a feel for it. I only threw a few of them,” he said. “It’s definitely got to be incorporated. I need some kind of equalizer to (go along with) my fastball and slider. Once that comes around, it should make things a little bit easier.”

Halftimes in the NFL are typically a 12-minute sprint. Players rush back to the locker room, maybe take a bathroom break, get a few words of advice from their coaches and head back out for the second half.

That pacing completely changes at the Super Bowl when the elaborate halftime shows lead to a 30-minute break that leads to more time for adjustments, distractions and the need to stay loose.

”You have to waste time,” said Philadelphia receiver Torrey Smith David Montgomery Jersey , who played in the 2013 game with Baltimore.

”There’s only so much you can really do. We have a plan to stay warm and things to stay active.”

Eagles coach Doug Pederson is aware of the change that he even staged a 30-minute break during practice on Wednesday to get his players acclimated to the rare downtime.

The second part of practice was not nearly as crisp, which Pederson hopes will be a lesson for his players on how to handle it on Sunday against the more experienced Patriots.

”That’s why I did the break, was to put us in that situation, now we understand it,” he said. ”It was a very teachable moment for our guys, our coaches and how to prepare for the second half of a football game.”

Smith said after the adjustments that are made, players might spend the time listening to music, watching film on their iPads or even playing games on their phones.

Players might even be able to hear Justin Timberlake’s halftime show in the background as the fans enjoy a concert while the players get ready for the final 30 minutes of the biggest game of their lives.

”You’re so focused that you don’t worry about all that,” said Eagles linebacker Dannell Ellerbe, who also played on the Ravens in the Super Bowl. ”But we did want to see Beyonce.”

Former Colts receiver Reggie Wayne remembers listening to Prince perform in 2007 in Miami, thinking he’d love to be able to watch if he didn’t have a football game to focus on.

Three years later when Indianapolis played New Orleans, Wayne believes the long halftime played a role in the Saints victory. New Orleans started the second half with a surprise onside kick and took its first lead of the game on a TD pass from Drew Brees to Pierre Thomas.

”It can take the air out of the balloon of the winning team,” Wayne said. ”If it was a shorter halftime they might not have had enough time to ramp that up. We may not have been lackadaisical. It can get catch you off-guard. You come back out there and you might have had momentum but you no longer have it.”

The longer halftime also provides the chance for more adjustments http://www.bearsauthorizedshops.com/aut … ley-jersey , which can be hard to do in the regular season with so little time. Teams are able to see what worked well in the first half, what didn’t and even hold back some plays that can be utilized in the second half just to keep the opponent off-guard.

”It’s definitely something we don’t do except for once a year if we’re lucky enough to be in this game,” said Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, who will make his eighth Super Bowl start.

”Just try to deal with what we got. Obviously there’s time to make corrections, time to just regroup depending on how the first half went. It’s a good opportunity for you to really understand where you’re at what you need to do and how you need to approach the second half.”

That proved crucial last year in New England’s comeback win over Atlanta when the Patriots trailed 21-3 at the half before rallying for a 34-28 overtime victory.

Brady exploited one-on-one matchups on the outside in the second half after realizing Atlanta was taking away the middle of the field and the Patriots defense played more aggressively.

The Eagles are prepared for more of that this year against coach Bill Belichick’s team.

”Did you see the Patriots last year? Do you think they made a lot of adjustments at halftime. You definitely can make a lot of adjustments,” said Eagles defensive back Corey Graham.

”When you play like a guy like Belichick, who’s so smart in making adjustments and things like that, if you give him an extra 20 minutes, can you imagine the adjustments he’ll make.”

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