(Photo Credit: Gene J. Puskar)
PNC Park – Gerrit Cole pitched a solid five innings of work, but he and reliever Justin Wilson couldn’t get out of the sixth as the Rockies scored three times en-route to a 4 – 2 victory on Friday night.
Cole retired ten of the first eleven batters he faced with the only hit coming from a Troy Tulowitzki solo shot in the second inning. He would then allow two batters to reach with one out in the fourth before getting the next two batters to strike out. He would work a perfect fifth before encountering more trouble in the sixth.
“The thing that was missing tonight was early contact,” said Hurdle. “Only three hitters retired in three pitches or less. A lot of deeper counts tonight which escalated the pitch-count. Six three-ball counts that only played out to two walks. He did have six K’s, so it was a little bit of everything, but there wasn’t major damage done. He leaves with runners on the corners with one out and he only gave up three hits and one run.”
He would walk Dexter Fowler to start the sixth and allow a single to Corey Dickerson to set up first and third and chase Cole from the game. Justin Wilson would come in and allow an infield single to Tulo and a 2 RBI single to Todd Helton to put the Rockies up for good.
The Pirates would get their chances, but would only cash in once in the third inning. Jose Tabata would lead off the inning with a single and advance to third on Neil Walker’s second double of the game. Andrew McCutchen would then come up and single in Marte to tie the score momentarily at one. Pedro Alvarez would then ground into a double play to end the inning.
Pittsburgh had runners on in the second third and fourth innings, but could not cash in due to GIDP. They would go down silently over the final five innings as Rockies starter, Jhoulys Chacin pitched outstanding baseball in an eight-inning effort only allowing the one hit on six hits.
The Pirates wouldn’t go away in the end as they got a run off of Rockies closer, Rex Brothers. Cutch knocked a one-out double off of the centerfield fence and Pedro followed with a double for himself to cut the lead to two. Russell Martin then came up as the tying run and sent a shot deep to left-center, but he didn’t get all of it and it was caught for a long, loud out. Pinch-hitter Gaby Sanchez would then fly to right to end the game.
“I feel like they got one, tonight,” said Cole. “We played really good defense and we put really good swings on the ball, but they just scored more than we did tonight. I did everything I could to minimize the damage and be selective of my pitches and that’s the way the game goes sometimes.”
Final Score: Rockies 4, Pirates 1.
Starters Lines:
Cole (L, 5 – 5):5 1/3 IN, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 6 K’s, 1 WP, 1 HR. 102 Pitches (66 Strikes)
Chacin (W, 10 – 5): 8 IN, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 K’s, 1 HP. 96 Pitches (70 Strikes)
These two will be back at it tomorrow at 7:05 for game two of the 3-game set.
Tomorrow’s Starters:
(LHP) Francisco Liriano (PIT): 11 – 4, 2.16 ERA
(LHP) Jorge De La Rosa (COL): 10 – 5, 3.21 ERA
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