Before No. 1 prospect Gerrit Cole made his Major League debut yesterday for the Pittsburgh Pirates, closer Jason Grilli said that he was hoping the veterans on the team could rally around Cole and use his start to fire them up. It worked as the Pirates offense scored eight runs after struggling for the last couple of weeks. Apparently the offense was still fired up from Cole’s start as they scored 11 runs on 18 hits en route to a 11-8 series-clinching victory over the San Francisco Giants.
“It was a night where every run counted; they always do, but we were able to continue to add on,” Hurdle said. ”
It wasn’t that tonight’s starter Francisco Liriano deserved the run support tonight; he flat out didn’t pitch well. For the second straight game, the Pirates chased the Giants starter before the 5th inning as former Cy Young winner Barry Zito was dreadful on the road again.
Leading the way for the Pirates were the Triple-M’s at the beginning of the lineup. Starling Marte, Jordy Mercer and Andrew McCutchen combined to go 10-15 with seven runs and three RBIs. Marte notched his first four-hit ballgame and added two steals.
“It goes back to pitch selection and seeing the ball up,” Hurdle said. “He was able to do a much better job of that tonight.”
McCutchen drove in the first three runs of the ballgame to get the offensive onslaught started.
“The top of the order was really special tonight with the runs and the hits,” Hurdle said. “They kept fueling from the first inning until the end of the game.”
The aforementioned Liriano went six innings, surrendering four runs on eight hits. In what was his worst start as a Pirate, Liriano will take the support.
“It’s a great thing for me out there when you give up some runs early in the game and we are still competing,” Liriano said. “We just have to keep doing that and I think we’ll be okay.”
Gaby Sanchez,and Pedro Alvarez contributed with an RBI each, while Russell Martin add two of his own. Alex Presley hit his first home run of the year and his second as a pinch-hitter. The Pittsburgh Kid, Neil Walker, added three RBIs of his own, which included a solo home run.
The Pirates will look to complete the sweep of the Giants tomorrow as Charlie Morton (0-0, 0.00 ERA) will make his first start of the season, 366 days after Tommy John Surgery. For the Giants, Matt Cain (4-3, 5.09 ERA) will look to play stopper for the Giants. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.
