There were a lot of questions about the state of the Pittsburgh Pirates coming into this series with the Miami Marlins. With guys like Andrew McCutchen, Neil Walker, and Pedro Alvarez out of the lineup, one had to wonder where the offense would come from. After a rough start to this three game series on Tuesday Pittsburgh answered the bell the final two games and took the series tonight with a 7-2 victory.
Scoring first is always good and the Pirates did it again tonight. It took until the fourth inning to do it, but it all started with a Russell Martin infield single that scored Jordy Mercer. Martin would come around to score, along with Starling Marte on a Gregory Polanco single to left. The Buccos were able to add two more runs in the fifth, the first on a Mercer single to center. Mercer then scored when Gaby Sanchez singled and then moved up to second when Martin was caught in a rundown.
Edison Volquez pitched very well, giving Pittsburgh seven innings of shutout baseball. At the end of the night he struck out seven and walked three, all while giving up just one hit. This allowed Justin Wilson to enter the eighth and get rid of the stench he left with on Monday. He would strike out two in his inning of work and hopefully regain some confidence moving forward.
The Pirates would add two runs in the eighth when Polanco hit a double to deep center. El Coffee made a great play in the field when he threw out Jarrod Saltalamacchia at third when he tried to tag up in the fifth. Scary moment in the seventh, when Mercer hit a line drive off the head of Miami pitcher Dan Jennings. He would leave the game on a cart but was alert and waived to the crowd. The Marlins added two runs in the ninth with two outs when Giancarlo Stanton hit a homer to center. Stolmy Pimentel regrouped after that for the final out of the night.
While Miami isn’t a great team, it was important for the Buccos to put up some runs these last two games. It is still unclear on what the status of McCutchen, Walker, and Alvarez is so there is no reason to take a team like the San Diego Padres lightly these next three games. San Diego has a great record at PNC Park since it opened in 2001.
Record vs. Marlins: 4-2
Record vs. N.L. East: 14-6
Record at Home: 36-22
Overall Record: 61-53
And…
As Always…
Let’s Go Bucs!
