PITTSBURGH, Pa. — Being a bench player, and not getting the opportunity to play everyday can be a tough adjustment for a young athlete. But for Michael McKenry, he’s made the transission look smooth as the Pirates No. 2 catcher. Sunday at PNC Park was only McKenry’s second start of the 2013 season, but he made the most out of that opportunity by blasting two home runs in the 10-7 comeback win.
“That’s not the easiest position for a young player to be in,” Manager Clint Hurdle said. “Second start of the season and you hit one off [Reds’ starter Mat] Latos, and you hit one off [Jonathan] Broxton. He competes and he works as hard as anybody we have. It’s always nice when you see players that have that unselfish mentality and attitude to have success and to make a difference and impact the game. He impacted the game today.”
Trailing the Cincinnati Reds 5-0 in the seventh, McKenry took a 2-1 pitch from Mat Latos and launched it to center field to score the clubs first run of the game. It was the start of a four-run frame that Pittsburgh was able to put together to bring the game within one run. Rookie outfielder Starling Marte singled and scored after Travis Snider hit a double to drive him home. The double for Snider, however, was nearly a home run. The right fielder ripped the ball to deep right field which hit off a fan standing at the railing in the seats. After the umpire’s reviewed the play, it was ruled a double because of fan interference.
“All I could do is get him to reconvene,” Hurdle said. “They thought they had the call. You got to go out there and push it…I said, ‘It’s always never going to look good if you don’t, but I’d like for you to check.’ They checked and made the decision they were going to make. I was really surprised. I thought that ball was hit as good as any of them.”
Andrew McCutchen didn’t let the call ruin the rally, and drove in Snider with a two bagger of his own. The fourth run scored after Gaby Sanchez picked up a RBI single off the bench.
The Pirates didn’t let up after the seventh. In the eighth, the team battled back and pulled off an impressive comeback win to sweep the Reds.
Pedro Alvarez drew a walk to leadoff the inning against Jonathan Broxton. McKenry picked up his first career multi homer game by hitting a two-run shot to tie the game up at six. After heading back to the dugout to receive high fives from his teammates, he was also greeted with a curtain call from the fans.
“It’s indescribable,” McKenry said on how he felt after hitting his second home run. “I don’t even know what to say. It’s one of those things that you can’t describe unless you go through it. I got a curtain call today. It’s just humbling. It’s a blessing to be a part of this Pirates team as well as the city. The people are great.”
“They say things are contagious in this game,” Hurdle said. “Home runs were contagious late in the game for us today. It was just fun to watch the guys. We just stayed close, hung around and do some things. The crowd gets pumped up. The guys enjoy that as much as anything.”
Marte picked up his second hit of the game with his first long ball of the season just fair of the foul pole in left field. That home run pushed the Pirates ahead for the first time of the game, 8-6. Sanchez picked up a second RBI with a sac fly to score pitcher Jonathan Sanchez, who drew a pinch-hit walk. Neil Walker singled in McCutchen for the 10th run of the game and the 15th hit collectively as a team.
“We thought it would be close,” Hurdle said of Marte’s home run. “He went up there and had some hard at-bats early. Just stayed out there, got a ball elevated and put a good swing on it. He’s got that kind of power. We thought it was fair. I don’t know how much was it fair. Fair enough.”
The Pirates, who were down 5-0 heading into the bottom of the seventh inning, pulled off a comeback to win the series 10-7. With the win, Pittsburgh improved to 6-6.
“One game can keep us out of the playoffs, so every one that we can win is huge,” McKenry said. “Today is just one of those. We came back and beat a good Reds team that is pitching great throughout the whole game. Luckily we just turned it on a bit.”
“Anytime you get to sweep against these guys –they’re one of the premium teams in baseball last year,” Hurdle said. “We talked before the game and said it would be a real good day for us to do some batting today. We ended up [waiting] until the last two innings to do all that offense. We were pretty much held in check. We haven’t sniffed a whole lot off Latos his last four starts. That was significant in itself. To be able to add up and steam roll, to finish the series off, very gratifying, good feeling.”
But it wasn’t just the bats that were impressive in the comeback victory. After Phil Irwin was pulled with two outs in the fifth inning having allowed five runs in his Major League debut, Jeanmar Gomez picked up the team. The right-handed reliever tossed 2.1 scoreless frames to keep the Bucs in reach on a day where the bullpen was short handed. Both Jared Hughes and Mark Melancon allowed a run a piece in their inning of work.
“Jenamar did a nice job keeping the game in check and gave us two-plus innings,” Hurdle said. “He got ahead of people, stayed away from damage. That was much needed as well.”
“Everything that happened today was important. Throughout that whole sequence of events. We get back one down, and then we give up one, but we stay on it. We don’t let that inning crumble. We keep it at two. It’s big. Everybody played off everybody else’s rhythm and emotion late. And it was good to see.”
