The Pirates (2-0) look to complete an opening series sweep against the Chicago Cubs (0-2) this afternoon at PNC Park (Weather Permitting). Wandy Rodriguez (6-4, 3.59 ERA in 2013) will face Jason Hammel (7-8, 4.97 ERA in 2013).
Hurdle’s Quotes
On Wandy making his first start reg. season since his injury: We’re going to run him out there and he’s been in a good place all spring. Every building block he needed to take care of, he was able to take care of throughout March. This will be the next step. He sure does feel good, The old Wandy is back. It’s hard to be yourself when you can’t compete and you’re injured and you can’t participate and you can’t help and it was challenging for him to be in that environment last year. He hadn’t been in that playoff situation since his rookie season and then to have the plug pulled on him and to still be around trying to work your way back, that can be a challenging spot to be in personally and I thought he handled it well. He’s looking forward to pitching I do know that.”
On Tony Sanchez coming through last night in his first at bat of the season: “It was a thing of beauty for us. He had a couple pinch-hit at bats last year and one in particular, — an extra innings game against Houston — where he didn’t even fire off a swing and I think it was just a day or two later we had a little talk and he said that would never happen again. I figured if that guy got it close, he [Sanchez] was going to take a whack at it and if he got it close again, he’d take another whack at it. The first two really weren’t pitches to do anything with and he found enough of a pitch to work with and work it through the left side of the infield.”
Other Notes
— Last night/this morning’s game marked the longest game in innings played between the Pirates and Cubs since the two teams played an 18-inning contest at Three Rivers Stadium on August 6, 1989, in just 5:42. The Pirates won that game 5-4 on a Jeff King solo homer off of Scott Sanderson, who was in his eighth inning of relief.
— The Pirates have started the season with back-to-back extra inning games for the first time since 1964 and they have posted consecutive walk-off wins to start a season for the first time in club history.
— With a win this afternoon, the Pirates would have their first 3-0 start to the regular season since 2007.
Starting Lineups
First pitch is set for 12:35.
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(Photo Credit: Justin K. Aller/Getty Images)
