Gerrit Cole’s fourth seven or more inning performance was just enough as he received a three run seventh inning in a 5-2 victory against the Miami Marlins.
The win pushes the team’s winning streak to a season-best six games.
“We’re doing what we’re capable of, we have our swag back out there,” Chris Stewart said. “We’re as good as any team in baseball, especially the way we’re playing right now.
The five-run seventh included the team batting around and five hits. After a strikeout, Chris Stewart and pinch-hitter Jose Tabata each hit singles off Mike Dunn.
Josh Harrison then came up to the plate against reliever Sam Dyson [2-2]. On two occasions earlier in the game, he was unable to drive in runners that were in scoring position but on this occasion, his single cut the team’s deficit to 2-1.
“It felt good to be in that situation of the game and know we could put some pressure on them,” said Harrison. “I put the other ones behind me, they had no effect on what I did that at-bat so I was just trying to get a good pitch and put a good swing on it.”
Pedro Alvarez then came in to pinch-hit for Jordy Mercer and was able to add a fourth consecutive single which tied the game. Dyson’s struggles continued, as he walked McCutchen and then after a mound visit walked in a run.
Dyson was then removed in favor of a third Marlin reliever Carter Capps. The first batter he faced, Jung Ho Kang, hit a two-run single for the final Pirate runs of both the inning and the game.
“It was a tight situation and I felt the team really needed an insurance run to win the ballgame,” Kang said through interpreter H.K. Kim.
The inning shifted Cole from the losing his third game of the season to improving his record to 7-2 on the season.
Justin Bour, the Marlins first baseman, opened the scoring with his third home run of the season off Cole . It was also the third homer Cole has surrendered this season.
A home run also gave the Marlins their second run of the game when Christian Yelich also homered over the Clemente Wall in right field. It was his second homer of the season. Coming into the game, Yelich was a .326 hitter against the Pirates with two home runs.
Brad Hand, made his first start of the season and pitched five shutout innings however received a no-decision because of the seventh inning.
Tony Watson extended his shutout streak to 17 innings earning his 10th hold of the season. Watson has double digit hold totals in each of his five seasons.
Mark Melancon pitched the ninth inning recording his 12th save of the season. It also is the 61st save as a Pirate, which ties him with Stan Belinda for seventh on the team’s all-time list.
Manager Clint Hurdle noted that the team is closer to the right directions and called his team a good one that was playing mediocre baseball.
“We needed to do something different because basically we were the definition of insanity, we were doing the same thing the same way and expecting different results and it didn’t happen,” said Hurdle. “We got to 18-22 and we weren’t going to get any better if we kept going the way we were going.”
The Pirates start a 10 game road trip Thursday when they face the San Diego Padres. A.J. Burnett [4-1 1.37 ERA] will take on Ian Kennedy [2-4 6.11 ERA]. Burnett is 3-7 with a 4.23 ERA in 11 career starts against the Padres.
Photo credit: @Pirates on Twitter
