Tony Watson was asked to make his longest outing of the season as the Pittsburgh Pirates were trying to hold on to a 1-run lead against the Chicago Cubs.
Watson ended up getting the job done earning his first save of the season and the Pirates won by a 4-3 score.
“It turned into a plan B where he had to go get six outs and he went out and got them,” manager Clint Hurdle said. “He’s shown grit, he’s shown ability, he’s shown skill. It was a very gritty performance to get six outs and keep that game right where it was.”
Worley [2-1] got the win pitching 5.2 innings allowing six hits, one run [unearned], two walks and five strikeouts over the course of of 106 pitches, 66 of which were for strikes. The 106 pitches were the most Worley has thrown since May 11, 2013 when he threw 111 pitches.
The Pirates opened up a 2-0 lead in the second inning against Jason Hammel [1-1] when Francisco Cervelli hit a double to right field off the Clemente Wall to score Starling Marte. Third base coach Rick Sofield held Alvarez at third base on the play. Jung-ho Kang added a second run with a sacrifice fly to left field. Pedro Alvarez pushed the third Pirates run of the game across home plate with another sacrifice fly.
Kris Bryant led off the top of the fourth inning with a double and advanced to third on a fielding error from Gregory Polanco. Starlin Castro batted him in with an RBI ground out.
Worley was in a jam in the fifth inning. He had the bases loaded with two outs and walked two consecutive batters with Bryant at the plate. Worley threw three consecutive balls to open the at-bat but ultimately got a fly ball.
“I was missing all over the place and just had to bear down,” Worley said. “3-0 here it is hit it and he swung through so I said okay here we go do it again and do it again. I got a fly ball and we got out of the inning.”
In the bottom half of the inning, Polanco hit a 2-2 pitch over the Clemente Wall for a solo home run and his first homer of the season.
Snow was the story in the top of the seventh inning as it made its presence known at PNC Park. Arquimedes Caminero came on in relief after Rob Scahill got the last out of the sixth inning. Caminero struck out two in the inning.
Jared Hughes came on to pitch the eighth inning and allowed a single, walk and single to open the frame before Miguel Montero added a single to cut the deficit to two runs. Hurdle saw enough from Hughes and brought Watson in.
David Ross came in to pinch hit and grounded into a force out which scored a run. Watson got Jonathan Herrera and Addison Russell to fly out and line out respectively to end the inning.
Watson came back out to pitch the ninth inning and earning the fifth save of his career.
“I was just trying to go out there and get outs,” Watson said. “We knew that [Melancon] was going to be out tonight so knew we were a man down, so it whatever we needed to do to come out on top that was what we were going to do. It just ended up being six outs.”
Thursday is the series finale between the two teams as Jeff Locke [2-0 1.93 ERA] faces Kyle Hendricks [0-0 6.10 ERA]. Locke is 1-1 with a 3.81 ERA in five career starts against the Cubs. Hendricks will be making his first start against the Pirates.
Photo credit: Charles LeClaire/USA TODAY Sports
