Who says going out West is a bad thing? After sweeping the Angels in Anaheim, the Pirates traveled up north to take on the Mariners in a two-game series. For the second time on the season, the Pirates would have to face arguably the best pitcher in baseball, Felix Hernandez. While Hernandez held the offense at bay for the most part, some late game heroics (are you surprised?), allowed the Pirates to sweep the West Coast trip and the Mariners, 4-2.
“It’s what you have to do. You follow a schedule,” Pirates Manager Clint Hurdle said about leaving the West Coast. “We’re going to go home. It was a good trip. It was a very good trip.”
Neil Walker was able to put the Pirates on the board with a two-run homer in the fourth inning, his sixth of the season. Besides that home run, the Pirates were unable to get anything else off of Hernandez. Hernandez pitched 108 pitches over seven innings and struck out 11 Pirates along the way.
“He was out there to get things done,” Hurdle said of Hernandez. “You just have to battle him and get his pitch count up to get him out of the game before it’s the ninth inning. We were able to do that. He’s always going to be tough.”
Opposing Hernandez was Jeanmar Gomez, who was making his first start since June 2. In typical Gomez fashion, it wasn’t the most attractive stat line, but he got the job done.
“For a guy that has been away and out a couple times on rehab, he wasn’t as sharp as when he left, but he was still effective,” Hurdle said. “It was fastball, change up for about first two or three innings. He gave us the innings we needed. He got us to a part in the game that we hope to get to with the lead. He was effective again and did a real nice job.”
When Gomez exited the ballgame, the Pirates had a 2-1 lead. Justin Wilson entered the ballgame and got Kendrys Morales to ground into a 5-3. The next batter, the ageless one Raul Ibanez, took Wilson’s 3-2 fastball over the right field fence to even the score.
After trading quick innings over the next two frames, Pedro Alvarez got the ninth inning started with a single off Charlie Furbush. After back-to-back outs placed Alvarez on second, the hometown kid, Travis Snider, came to the dish, but was intentionally walked. As he’s done much of the season, Jordy Mercer stepped to the dish and delivered an RBI single to put the Pirates ahead for good.
“I’ve been on the other end of the stick. Sometimes you get the matchup you want and you don’t get the results you want,” Hurdle said. “Good for us.”
Mercer said that having the person in front of him get walked intentionally gives him extra motivation.
“I think it proves that you’re the guy they want to face and I’m the guy that wants to be up there too,” Mercer said. “It works out for the hitter especially when I know that he wants me and I want to be up there to bat.”
Hurdle went with Mark Melancon in the ninth inning for the save opportunity with Jason Grilli having the day off. Melancon shut the door for his second save of the year and the Pirates eighth consecutive interleague victory.
“After the extended outing in Anaheim on Sunday, we didn’t feel it necessary. We thought we could cover it from the bullpen,” Hurdle said about turning to Melancon over Grilli. “It’s good just because he has history. He’s done it before.”
The Pirates will fly back to Pittsburgh (48-30) and enjoy a day off before starting a three-game set with the Milwaukee Brewers on Friday. The Pirates will send Gerrit Cole (3-0, 3.44 ERA) to the mound to take on Johnny Hellweg (0-0, 0.00 ERA) in the opener. First pitch is at 7:05 p.m.
