Oh how the storylines were in abundance Saturday night in PNC Park. Former Pirates starter, Paul Maholm, returned to Pittsburgh as one of the best pitchers in baseball this year. No, really. Maholm sported a record of 3-0 and had yet to give up a run.
Then you have Mr. Jekyll and Hyde (on the field that is) in James McDonald for the Pirates. In some instances, he looks brilliant, but at other times, he’s a disaster.
“There’s two guys. There’s the guy that everyone wants to play behind,” Hurdle said. “The other guy, you just go, ‘come one, where’s the other guy?’ It’s not that easy, understand that we are trying to work with him on this and we aren’t against him. He’s aware of the situation he is in.”
Lastly, Clint Hurdle decided to bench three of his hottest hitters in Garrett Jones, Pedro Alvarez and Travis Snider, that has hit .355 with nine RBIs last three games, against the left-handed Maholm. With this move, Hurdle decided to start Russell Martin at third base. The Pirates came away with the 3-1 win, but all of the stories played out in the process.
Maholm was dealing again early in the game. His ability to keep hitters off balance – his velocity dropped as low as 61 – kept his ERA at a 0.00 early on. Prior to the game, Hurdle said Maholm is the same pitcher as he was during his last season in Pittsburgh.
“He hasn’t changed a whole lot, no. Actually, one of his better seasons, I think, as far as just stuff goes, was his last season here. I think we came up short on run support if my memory serves,” Hurdle said. “He’s going to make you swing the bat starting with strike one. He gets a lot of swings not necessarily in the strike zone. You have to make him get up in the zone.”\
Following the game, Hurdle said that he was wrong as he saw something from Maholm that he never saw before.
“He did do something different. We didn’t see the 60-MPH breaking ball on tape,” Hurdle said. “We didn’t have that. Other than that, that’s vintage Paul.”
Apparently Maholm remembered the lack of run support he received in Pittsburgh as the Braves were only able to muster one run for their southpaw.
“He pitched very effectively early. He was cutting the ball in, he’s sinking it away, spotting the ball up and pitching the four corners,” Hurdle said of Maholm. “He was staying out of the middle.”
Looking at McDonald, his inconsistent pitching has to be tracked pitch-by-pitch. Again, it was evident tonight. McDonald came out of the gate looking like a man possessed. No, forget that. He looked like a man who knew he was pitching for his job. McDonald struck out the side to start the game off as the elder Upton, Jason Heyward and little brother Upton were all sent down.
JMac was happy with his start, but attributed much of his success tonight to the confidence that Martin gave him before that game.
“Russ Martin pulled me aside earlier today before the game and just kind of randomly said ‘Hey I want you to watch something.’ I said ‘Alright, what is it?’ He said ‘Have you ever watched your strikeout highlight reel?’ I said ‘No.'”, McDonald explained. “I walked in there and he pulled up strikeouts. I think the confidence carried to the game. I think it was a motivational thing. He didn’t have to say anything at all. It worked. I felt confident with every pitch.”
McDonald spoke volumes to the job that Martin has done with him.
“He’s been good. He helps a lot mentally and talks to me,” McDonald said. “Today, he came up big for me.”
But then bad JMac had to show his face. In the second inning, McDonald hit a batter, gave up a double and walked two (including Andre Simmons, who was hitting .196 entering the game) to give the Braves an early 1-0 lead. In his best Houdini impersonation, McDonald got out of the inning with limited damage as he struck out the side…again.
“I liked the first inning, but the second inning was a big test for him,” Hurdle said. “It’s a test that he hasn’t passed some games. He passed that test tonight.”
McDonald finished the game strong as he gave up just the one run over six innings, while striking out nine.
“That’s the guy we’re looking for. That’s the guy our team likes playing behind,” Hurdle said. “Very positive outing for James. I loved the way he went out tonight. I loved the way he answered the bell tonight.”
Prior to the game, Hurdle caused a stir when he put out the lineup card and it had Martin’s name on it. No, it wasn’t the fact Martin was in the lineup. It was the fact that Martin was playing third base, a position he hasn’t played since 2008. The move meant that Alvarez, Jones and Snider, all hot as of late, wouldn’t be starting in the game.
“I just wanted to go ahead and throw the right-handers out there, all of them,” Hurdle said. “As we continue to attack this 20-day period, Pedro will get a little break today. Everybody will get one sometime.”
As usual, this created a stir with Pirates fans, and writers, alike. While many questioned Hurdle, again, his decision proved to work.
While the bats were relatively quiet tonight against Maholm, the Pirates were able to ignite a spark in the sixth as Andrew McCutchen, who was celebrating his bobblehead night, drove in the first run of the game for the Pirates. The run was the first scored off Maholm this season and snapped his scoreless streak at 25.2 IP.
The score didn’t stay tied for long as Gaby Sanchez, one of the players Hurdle inserted in the lineup in place of Jones, put the 1-2 fastball in the bushes to give him his first home run of the season and the Pirates the 3-1 lead.
“That inning, we were able to make some things happen because we stayed disciplined,” Hurdle said. “We looked for balls up and over the plate. The ones we got we hammered.”
So on the way to victory, we learned that Maholm still doesn’t get run support in Pittsburgh, McDonald continues to hot and cold and Hurdle actually does know what he’s doing.
The Pirates will wrap up its three-game set against the Braves as they’ll send Jonathan Sanchez (0-2, 12.96 ERA) to the mound to take on Kris Medlen (1-1, 1.42 ERA) of the Braves. First pitch is scheduled for 1:35.
Photo Credits: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
