Just a season ago, the Pittsburgh Pirates put themselves in a large hole with a poor month of April. Now, the Pirates have gotten off to a strong start in April with an opening series sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals, following a 5-1 victory Wednesday night.
The Pirates are now 3-0, but they are doing their best not to make too much of this sweep.
“I don’t think we’ll ever surprise ourselves when we play well, we’re past that point,” said manager Clint Hurdle. “We expect to play well. We met the challenge at home, the first series of the season.”
Opening the season at home by winning three in a row has not happened of late; the last time this occurred was 1973. The last time the Pirates started the season 3-0 happened in 2007 after a series sweep of the Astros at Minute Maid Park.
Right-hander Juan Nicasio (1-0) got the win, pitching six stellar innings—the lone blemish was a solo home run to Jeremy Hazelbaker.
That first half-inning
Cardinals pitcher Mike Leake (0-1) has had plenty of success against the Pirates, so it came as a surprise that he threw 42 pitches in his first inning in a Cardinals uniform.
Leake struggled with his control, walking in a run. Despite Leake’s struggles, however, the Pirates were not able not further capitalize, although they were able to activate the Cardinals bullpen. Each at-bat was a struggle for Leake in that first inning, and the Pirates made him earn everything. Even the final out, a Josh Harrison lineout that required an athletic play to end the inning, was hard hit.
“We’re facing a good pitcher that has challenged us dramatically,” Hurdle said. “We got good looks, he wasn’t on top of his game, and we didn’t chase.”
Regardless of the fact that only one run scored in the inning, high pitch counts can come with a price, and it was clear Leake was getting tired in the fifth inning.
That fifth inning started with a John Jaso triple off the top of the Clemente Wall in right field. Cardinals second baseman Kolten Wong was unable to throw Jaso out at third, and the ball got away, going into the camera well and bouncing back. Third base umpire Hunter Wendelstedt awarded Jaso home plate.
From there, the inning unraveled, as three consecutive Pirates had hits to knock Leake out of the game.
“He knows how to pitch and battle,” Hurdle said of Leake. “We tried to stay after him and fatigued him in the end. I think that’s why we got the three spot in the fifth.”
Nicasio’s outing
This was Nicasio’s first start since last June—and his first career start as a Pirate—and any jitters that could have been expected certainly did not show.
Nicasio showcased a hard and aggressive fastball and, over six innings, struck out seven batters and gave up two hits while picking up the win.
“We wanted give him the opportunity to go out there and pitch,” Hurdle said. “He was very aggressive and had no walks. This man has been through a bunch; he’s grown up, he’s tough. He has layers of toughness, both mentally and physically. He’s been on a mission since he’s gotten here and has another opportunity for that to continue.”
When meeting with reporters post-game, Nicasio discussed his hope of carrying this recent performance up north.
“I try not to think too much and try to take it one pitch at a time, just like in spring training,” he said. “I feel really good.”
Luebke gets return out of the way
It may not have been Cory Luebke’s first major league game, but it certainly felt that way. Luebke had not pitched since 2012 after a rough road after two Tommy John surgeries and seemingly endless rehab, as well as a staff infection.
Luebke pitched the ninth inning in Wednesday’s game and was able to record the first two outs before a Yadier Molina single put a runner in scoring position. This made Hurdle bring in Mark Melancon for the save situation. Four pitches later, Melancon had his first save of the season.
“It was good to get Cory in,” Hurdle said. “He showed good finish, and we got the part of getting him in done. Now, it’s all about moving forward.”
Luebke’s process has been a slow one, as pitching coach Ray Searage has started working with the relief pitcher over the past week and a half. Luebke is encouraged by what he has seen.
“We’ve been working this last week-and-a-half with some bad habits I developed with three-and-a-half years of rehab,” he said. “We’re definitely going in the right direction.”
Luebke admitted there were days where he did not think his return to a major league mound would happen, but, on those occasions he would just stick his head down and focus on the task at hand.
Now, his task is to worry about competing and having fun instead of the just anticipating getting back on a mound.
Still, his road ahead is clear.
“There’s some work to be done,” Luebke said.
Up next:
Following an offday, the Pirates will travel to face the Cincinnati Reds. Alfredo Simon will face Francisco Liriano (1-0, 0.00 ERA). Liriano is 1-5 with a 3.86 ERA in 12 career starts against the Reds.
Image credit: Britt Reints
