Wandy Rodriguez needed a few innings to get back into form after being sidelined with an injury last year, but the offense wasn’t able to bail him out as the Pirates dropped the final game of the opening series to the Chicago Cubs 3-2.
The Cubs scored a run in the first three innings off of Wandy as he readjusted to pitching on the big league stage. His last start was June 5th in Atlanta when he was pulled from the game with an arm injury that sidelined him for the rest of the season. Emilio Bonifacio scored two of those runs when he led the game off with a single — the third game in-a-row he did that — stole second and scored on an Anthony Rizzo RBI single. He would also double in the third and score on a Justin Ruggiano 1-6-3 double play. Rodriguez tried looking him back to third on the play, but chose for the sure outs instead.
Mike Olt contributed the other run with his first major league home run that landed in the second row of seats on the Clemente wall. It was on a pitch that Rodriguez liked and didn’t expect the ball to go out.
“He didn’t hit the ball too well,” said Rodriguez. “I don’t know how the ball went that far. He was facing towards left field and the ball went out of right field, but that happens sometime.”
Rodriguez settled down after that by retiring nine of his final ten batters –only baserunner came on a 4-pitch walk to Darwin Barney — while striking out four.
“Early on, weather he was excited, it was flat a little bit, it was up in the zone,” said manager, Clint Hurdle. “Changeup was a little hard. On the last three innings, there was downhill playing with the fastball, the changeup came into play, the curveball found the bottom of the zone. It was the tale of two pitchers. He finished off very efficiently, very strong. A very good outing, I think.
Cubs starter, Jason Hammel kept Pirates hitters at bay allowing only three baserunners in 6 2/3 innings of work before leaving in the seventh after walking Neil Walker on his 99th pitch. Gaby Sanchez pinch-hit for Travis Ishikawa and laced a double down the left field line setting up Tony Sanchez for a 2 RBI single to cut the Cubs lead to 3-2.
It would be the closest the Pirates got as they had a runner in scoring position in the eighth. but were unable to score him. Pedro Strop threw a scoreless ninth to record his first save of the year.
Not the ideal ending to a successful first series, but Hurdle will take it as the Pirates take 2-of-3 from the Cubs.
“It says what it said last year. We pitch it and catch it pretty good and find out how to score one more run than the other team. Obviously, we’ve got guys that want to get more involved in the offense and we’ll keep working and we’ll get better.”
Final Score: Cubs 3, Pirates 2
Starter’s Lines
Rodriguez (L, 0-1): 6 IN, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 5 K’s, 1 HR. 93 Pitches (58 Strikes)
Hammel (W, 1-0): 6 2/3 IN, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K’s. 99 Pitches (62 Strikes)
The Pirates will conclude their opening homestand with a 3-game, weekend set against the defending NL Champion, St. Louis Cardinals starting tomorrow night. First pitch is set for 7:05.
Tomorrow’s Starters
(RHP) Gerrit Cole (PIT): 10-7, 3.22 ERA in 2013
(RHP) Shelby Miller (STL): 15-9, 3.06 ERA in 2013
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(Photo Credit: Getty Images)
