Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said in his pregame press conference a couple of days ago that it’s the teams that get hot at the right time that are the ones that have success in October. Well, the Pirates might be one of those teams as they continued their hot play with a 9-1 rout of the Red Sox on Wednesday night.
The Pirates (81-70) scored early and often against Red Sox starter Clay Buchholz as they scored nine runs on ten hits against the Boston righty.
Gregory Polanco got things started in the first with a solo home run into the Clemente seats. Clint Barmes — who started for an injured Jordy Mercer — hit a two-run double in the second, followed by a Josh Harrison RBI single. Neil Walker then joined the party in the third with his 21st home run of the season — on Roberto Clemente Day — into the Clemente seats.
Walker believes the recent play of the team is a good way to honor “The Great One”.
“Clemente, as much as he means to this organization, we get to look at that wall everyday when we’re at home,” said Walker. “It’s strange, but you try and see things from a team aspect and we’re playing good Pirate baseball and to be honoring his name in that light. What a better way to do it than tonight in that fashion.”
The Bucs put things away for good in the fifth when Starling Marte hit an RBI single and Ike Davis followed with a three-run home run — his tenth as a Pirate — into the Red Sox bullpen.
The Pirates now have nine players with 10 or more home runs in a season for the first time in franchise history.
“I think it’s pretty cool,” said Davis. “Especially with a lot of guys that are platoon players or have started as bench players and got jobs. To do that is pretty amazing.”
The offensive barrage helped Pirates starter Francisco Liriano settle in after a shaky first. Mookie Betts led the game off for the Red Sox (66-86) with a single. Betts then stole second with two out and advanced to third on a Russell Martin throwing error. Liriano then walked the next two Sox batters and fell behind Will Middlebrooks 3-0 before fighting back to get a ground out to end the inning.
Liriano recovered to allow only one run on two hits and three walks over his final five innings of work to secure his sixth win of the season.
It’s wasn’t a solid start in Liriano’s eyes, but it was good enough for the win.
“I had some trouble with my fastball, today,” said Liriano. “It was a battle out there for me just trying to execute pitches and throwing good pitches. I was able to execute some pitches when I needed to and got some good plays behind me.”
Justin Wilson, John Axford and Jeanmar Gomez pitched three scoreless innings while striking out four to finish things out.
Final Score: Pirates 9, Red Sox 1.
The Pirates win keeps them 2 1/2 games behind the Giants for the first N.L. Wild Card spot and 2 1/2 behind the Cardinals for the N.L. Central lead. The Brewers lost tonight dropping them 2 1/2 games behind Pittsburgh for the second Wild Card.
The Pirates playoff magic number is now nine.
Starters Lines
Liriano (W, 6-10): 6 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 5 BB, 2 K’s, 1 WP. 99 Pitches (51 Strikes).
Buchholz (L, 8-9): 4 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 3 K’s, 2 HR. 73 Pitches (49 Strikes).
The Pirates get win #81 on the season and will look for the three-game sweep tomorrow evening.
Tomorrow’s Starters
(RHP) Gerrit Cole (PIT): 9-5, 3.92 ERA
(RHP) Brandon Workman (BOS): 1-9, 5.27 ERA
First pitch is set for 7:05.
(Photo Credit: Getty Images)
