PITTSBURGH – Jeanmar Gomez, coming off one of the best starts of his career, was knocked around early by the Reds and exited the game after just one inning pitched. He allowed four earned runs in the top of the first and was pulled from the game due to an injury.
The bullpen, yet again, look phenomenal. After a tough first inning by Gomez, only four hits were allowed in eight innings by The Shark Tank.
Vin Mazarro relieved Gomez and pitched the second, third, and fourth innings. He only allowed two hits and struck out one.
Bryan Morris had a fantastic outing and pitched three perfect innings, setting down all nine batters he faced.
Mark Melancon allowed two hits, but also struck out two giving him another scoreless inning, dropping his ERA to .90.
The offense, which has been nonexistent as of late, had to come back in order to not get swept.
Pedro Alvarez hit his eleventh home run of the season in the bottom of the second off of Mat Latos, making the score 4-1. The Bucs pushed one more across in the bottom of the sixth, on a single from Andrew McCutchen.
Jonathan Broxton took the mound on the bottom of the eighth and allowed a two-out single to McCutchen. Garrett Jones stepped up next and hit a two-run home run off of Broxton on a 2-1 pitch to tie the game at 4-4. The ball landed in the Allegheny River on a fly, and made it just the second time in the history of PNC Park that a player hit a ball into the river on a fly (Daryle Ward in 2002 for the Astros). It was the first time a Pirate had ever done it, and the ball is estimated to have traveled 463 feet.
After the game was tied up, Jason Grilli was called upon for the top of the ninth, and struck out all three batters he faced.
Justin Wilson continued his great season with two scoreless innings, striking out three, and eventually got credited with a win (5-0). He had pitches show up on the radar gun at 98 MPH.
Russell Martin reached on an error and Alvarez walked with one out in the bottom of the eleventh. After Jordy Mercer could not drive the winning run home, Travis Snider came up huge with a two-out, RBI single to win the game for the Bucs in the bottom of the eleventh.
The Bucs wrapped up a 3-2 home stand with their win this afternoon and will head on the road to Atlanta to open up a three game series. A.J. Burnett (3-5, 2.72 ERA) is set to face Kris Medlen (1-6, 3.48 ERA) with the first pitch around 7:10 P.M.
