In his time with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Francisco Liriano has often backed away from pitches when he bats. Saturday afternoon, however, he took one deep to the opposite field and hit his first career home run, helping the Pirates defeat the Los Angeles Dodgers by a 6-5 score.
“I was trying to put the ball in play and I put a good swing on it and hit a homer,” Liriano said. “I got lucky there. I used to hit before so I have a little pop in me.”
In the first inning, Liriano allowed one run on two hits and threw 30 pitches. Jimmy Rollins singled and was thrown out at second on a fielder’s choice hit by Howie Kendrick. He was initially ruled safe, however manager Clint Hurdle challenged and after a nearly four minute review, the call was reversed.
Scott Van Slyke then hit a single which scored Kendrick, placing the Dodgers in the lead.
This lead was short-lived as Andrew McCutchen recorded a single that scored Starling Marte, who had reached base on a fielder’s choice. McCutchen battled Mat Latos [4-8] for 11 pitches before earning the single.
Adrian Gonzalez put the Dodgers back in front by a run in the second inning, but the Pirates once again responded with a three-run second of their own.
With Neil Walker and Francisco Cervelli on, Liriano hit an home run which just stayed in fair territory down the left field line. It was his first career home run.
“That’s like Haley’s Comet,” said Hurdle. “I’m really happy it happened and I always kid him that I wanted to see a homer in my lifetime for all he’s hit in BP. It’s was a real swing of the bat for us as the game played out.”
His homer was the second by a Pirates pitcher this season, as A.J. Burnett also had gone deep, the first time since 2003 [Kip Wells and Jeff D’Amico] that the Pirates have had two different pitchers that have hit a home run in a season.
The third inning turned out to be Liriano’s last. He allowed a walk to Yasiel Puig and then fell behind Kike Hernandez 3-1 before allowing a two-run home run which tied the game. In the middle of that stretch, Liriano was checked by trainer Todd Tomczyk and Hurdle, but remained in the game and escaped the inning without any further damage. Hurdle later told the media the visit was because of the way Liriano spun out of his delivery. There is no injury and Liriano intends to make his next start.
McCutchen led off the third inning with a double, giving him 30 multi-hit games this season. He stole third and scored on an RBI ground out by Jung Ho Kang. Neil Walker scored the game’s final run with a homer, his 11th of the season. He has 35 extra base hits this season, leading all National League second basemen.
Joe Blanton [1-0] pitched three scoreless innings following Liriano and earned his first win since June 22. He also picked up his first win pitching in the NL since Sept. 29, 2012 against the Colorado Rockies.
McCutchen added a hit in the bottom of the fifth, the 1,100th of his career. He is the 29th player in team history to reach 1,100 hits.
Joakim Soria and Tony Watson each picked up holds pitching the seventh and eighth innings, respectively. Watson’s hold was his major league leading 27th.
Mark Melancon pitched the ninth and allowed a leadoff single to Kendrick. Van Slyke then batted him in with a double past a diving McCutchen. Puig grounded out to Kang who threw on and got the out at first after a review was called for by Hurdle. Melancon picked up the save, his 35th of the season which is also a league best. He has now converted 33 consecutive save opportunities.
With the win, the Pirates won their 19th series in 2015.
This series concludes with a Sunday Night Baseball contest as Charlie Morton [7-4 4.19 ERA] takes on Alex Wood [7-7 3.65 ERA]. Morton is 0-1 with a 4.50 ERA in one career start against the Dodgers.
He said it: “It’s been a tough week. Things happen for a reason and you just hang with it. Hopefully next start everything goes better.” – Liriano on his week which included a rained out start, three inning outing and a trainer visit due to worry of injury
Photo credit: Keith Srakocic/AP Photo
