PITTSBURGH — Jeanmar Gomez is Josh Harrison’s new best friend.
That’s one offbeat way of looking at Gomez’s stellar emergency pitching Tuesday night, when he blanked Seattle for the first five innings of the Pirates’ 4-1 Interleague victory at PNC Park.
The Bucs again pushed a veteran pitcher to a first-inning cliff — this time, righty Aaron Harang — only to let him regain his footing. Unlike Sunday against Washington’s Gio Gonzalez, however, they survived the clemency, as Gomez and five relievers made a two-run first inning stand up.
Garrett Jones’ two-run homer in the eighth signaled an end to nervous time, opening up a three-run lead.
The only one to give Harang fits beyond the opening inning was Andrew McCutchen, who followed up his RBI double in that first with singles in the third and the sixth, and then added a single in the eighth off Carter Capps to make it a four-hit night.
The Bucs’ first Interleague game of the season unfolded in the wake of some roster turbulence, as scheduled starter James McDonald went on the DL with shoulder discomfort, and Gomez took his place on the mound and Harrison took his place on the roster.
Removing Gomez from his customary bullpen role threatened to burden the remaining relievers and lead to the likelihood of Harrison being quickly returned to Indianapolis for some pitching depth the next couple of days.
“Unless,” general manager Neal Huntington had said before the game, “Jeanmar pitches a gem.”
Five innings of two-hit shutout ball qualified as a gem under the circumstances. So Harrison could stick around for a while.
Gomez held the Mariners hitless until a two-out single in the third by Michael Saunders. In addition to the two hits, he also issued two walks and struck out five.
Gomez’s bullpen buddies teamed up to preserve his win, with lefties Justin Wilson and Tony Watson, then Jose Contreras, Mark Melancon and Jason Grilli, all having a piece of it.
Harang wound up allowing five hits in his six innings, striking out six without walking anyone.
Gomez very likely arranged for his own tenure: The Bucs were indecisive about who would take McDonald’s next scheduled turn — Sunday in New York against the Mets — and Gomez put in his bid, lowering his season ERA to 2.38 for seven games and 22 2/3 innings in a variety of roles.
The Pirates had staged another screening of their own “Groundhog Day” to grab a 2-0 lead in the first, as Starling Marte led off with an infield single in front of consecutive RBI doubles by Travis Snider and McCutchen.
It cannot last, obviously, but Marte getting on base to begin a game is falling into the sun-rises-in-the-east file of inevitability. The hit made him 16-for-26 leading off games, and if that .615 average isn’t mind-blowing enough, his on-base percentage in that situation is .677 (21-for-31).
Photo Credits: AP
