Despite the snowfall two hours before the game, the sun came out and Opening Day went as planned. On this day, April 5, 2012, the Pirates hosted the Philadelphia Phillies.
Wait, that’s not right.
While it is 361 days later than their opener last year, the Pirates looked the same as they did against Roy Halladay and the Phillies. The Pirates lost its last year’s Opening Day contest to the Phillies by a score of 1-0. They were able to muster just two hits in the game and wasted a seven inning, six-hit outing by Erik Bedard.
Fast forward to today and the result looked very similar. The Pirates had their ace on the mound in A.J. Burnett and for the second consecutive year, a stellar performance was wasted by the lackluster Pirates offense.
“It’s always a challenge offensively when you have to cover close to 20 miles per hour of velocity,” Hurdle said. “He made pitches. The last few times we’ve faced him, he’s been difficult.”
Neil Walker was able to collect the first hit of the game for the Pirates with a leadoff single in the top of the second inning. After that, the Pirates were held at bay until a two-out Andrew McCutchen double in the sixth inning. The double by McCutchen would be the Pirates last hit for the Pirates until Pedro Alvarez drove in McCutchen in the ninth inning with an RBI double.
“I think the other guy was out there making pitches,” Pirates Catcher Russell Martin said. “We battled our best, but he had good stuff. I don’t think it was a lack of effort on our part. He pitched a good game.”
Aside from a first-pitch fastball that Burnett challenged Rizzo – which he took yard for a two-run homer – Burnett was on top of his game today.
“It’s the big leagues. Tough draw Opening Day and he made pitches,” said Hurdle. “A.J. pitched competitively. He had a two-pitch sequence he’d probably like to have back in the first with the breaking ball that stayed up to Castro that he put into left field and the fastball that ran back over the plate to Rizzo.”
Burnett said the pitch to Rizzo was the one he wishes he could have back.
“You leave a ball over the middle like that, he’s supposed to hit it out,” Burnett said. “That’s the one mistake that I have to deal with today. I had good out pitches, but felt like I couldn’t get to them enough.”
Burnett exited the game after after Wellington Castillo hit an RBI double which drove in Nate Schierholtz to push the score to 3-0. Burnett posted a line of 5.2 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 1 BB and 10 K on 98 pitches.
The 10 strikeouts were the most by a Pirates pitcher on Opening Day since John “Candyman” Candelaria struck out 10 on April 5, 1983 against the St. Louis Cardinals.
“He punched out 10 and competed,” Hurdle said. “All of the things you want to see out of A.J. He pitched very well after that as well, but we weren’t able to drum up any offense.”
Despite the result, Burnett enjoyed his first Opening Day start and enjoyed being nervous again.
“It was a blast out there, either way you look at it,” Burnett said. “I was nervous, man. I haven’t been nervous in awhile. It was a good nervousness though. It was a good crowd today and it was fun to be a part of it regardless of the outcome.”
For the Cubs, starter Jeff Samardzija looked as good as advertised. Samardzija struck out nine, walked just one and allowed just two hits over eight shutout innings. Samardzija now has a lifteime .60 ERA in 30 innings pitched at PNC Park.
Carlos Marmol came in and in typical Marmol fashion, he made things interesting. After plunking McCutchen with a pitch, Alvarez was able to line a single up the middle to score McCutchen. After a walk to Gaby Sanchez, Cubs Manager Dale Sveum pulled Marmol in favor of James Russell and Kyuji Fujikawa. Russell and Fujikawa were able to get Neil Walker to flyout to right and have Russell Martin groundout to short to end the Pirates rally.
“The last two times we’ve seen him, he’s been a beast out there,” said Hurdle of Samardzija. “Command of everything out of his hand. He can go get 95-97 and then drop that breaking ball in there at 80. He was throwing whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted.”
The Pirates have a schedule day off on Tuesday before returning to the park on Wednesday. Wandy Rodriguez (0-0, 0.00 ERA) will take the bump for the Pirates (0-1) as he’ll be opposed by Edwin Jackson (0-0, 0.00 ERA) for the Cubs (1-0).
First pitch is schedule for 7:05.
Photo Credits: Yahoo! Sports
