The Pirates got a phenomenal start by Gerrit Cole and used a five run fourth inning, which included two homers, to propel them to a 6 – 1 victory over the Padres on Thursday afternoon.
Cole had his usual rough start to the game as he allowed two hits, walked one, and struck out two. The inning was highlighted by a Chase Headley RBI groundout putting the Padres on the board first for the fourth straight day. Cole would shut down the Padre offense after that, allowing two hits and two walks over his final five innings of work while striking out ten. Those four runners came when we walked two straight batters with one out in the third and two singles with two out in the fifth.
Cole recorded 12 strikeouts on the day which was the most strikeouts by a Pirates pitcher since Jose DeLeon struck out 13 Reds on August 20, 1983. He did it by striking out two batters in each inning he threw.
“I’ve definitely been getting better,” said Cole. “That’s the goal is just to go out there and improve every time you go out there. There were some opportunities where I let some guys get away from me and I didn’t execute pitches, I didn’t execute two pitches there in the first. But that’s the way the game is and this is a pennant race, this is going to be the playoffs, and those things have to improve. Pitch efficiency has to improve, not totally satisfied with going six innings, especially with the kind of stuff I brought out there today. I felt I could’ve ate up some of the bullpen innings but at the same time am I going to sit here and complain when I kept the team in the game and we played great defense and we hit the [expletive] out of the ball.”
The offense gave Gerrit plenty of room to work with as they scored in four innings and put a 5-spot in the fourth and a 3-spot in the seventh. They would quickly tie the game in the first when Jose Tabata got hit on the hand to lead off the game for the Bucs. He would score two batters later on an Andrew McCutchen groundout.
They would blow things open in the fourth when Pedro Alvarez would hit a one-out homer to right-center. It was on a pitch that he just missed three innings earlier. Jose Tabata would add to the scoring with a two-out 2 RBI double and Neil Walker would follow him with a two-run homer into the Clemente seats.
The Bucs tacked three more on in the seventh when Alvarez and Tony Sanchez walked with one out. Jordy Mercer then loaded the bases with a single and Tabata would leg out an infield single for another RBI. A second run scored on the play due to a wild throw by third basemen, Chase Headley. The would add their final run in the eighth when Alvarez recorded his second RBI of the night with a groundout to first.
For Clint Hurdle, the outcome of today’s game was a welcome sight.
“We’ve had 91 or 92 games decided by two runs or less.,” said Hurdle. “So that’s kind of where we live. To get one where it’s not so much, yeah, I don’t think it bothered anybody.”
The play of the day came in the eighth inning when Jason Grilli induced a popup to the Padres dugout. Tony Sanchez would make the catch on the dugout railing and fall into the dugout while holding on to the ball for the out. He hit the ground hard as no Padre was there to catch or pad his fall.
“It’s not like I’m a 100 pound woman,” said Sanchez. “I’m a 230 pound catcher with gear and metal cleats and masks flying everywhere. Whose going to get in the way of that? I wouldn’t try to catch anybody.”
Final Score: Pirates 10, Padres 1
With the win, the Pirates magic number for a playoff birth drops to 4 with the Nationals playing tonight with a chance to drop that to 3.
The Buccos will be back in action tomorrow night when they start their final home series of the regular season against the Reds in a pivotal wild card matchup. Today’s win is a good tune-up for what’s to come.
“Well I do think there are times you can get back in sync with yourself,” said Hurdle. “Nothing is going to give guys more confidence than some success. So there is one thing to be said for continuing to work and keep plowing, and when you get a good mark, get some good results, some tangible evidence it doesn’t hurt anybody. It most definitely can help and I think it was a good day for us to bounce back with a day game. You know the energy and everything we did this morning and everything we did when we went on the field, it’s been consistent it’s been the same and we’ll continue to take the night off and get ready for the Reds tomorrow. Could be a very exciting weekend.”
Starters Lines
Cole (W, 9 – 7): 6 IN, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 12 K’s. 97 Pitches (64 Strikes)
Kennedy (L, 6 – 10): 3 2/3 IN, 8 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 2 K’s, 1 HP, 2 HR. 81 Pitches (56 Strikes)
First pitch is set for 7:05.
Tomorrow’s Starters
(LHP) Francisco Liriano (PIT): 16 – 7, 2.29 ERA
(RHP) Matt Latos (CIN): 14 – 6, 3.14 ERA
(Photo Credit: Keith Srakocic / AP)
