Last night, Jordy Mercer took a changeup to the opposite field for the game-winning hit in the 11th inning as the Pittsburgh Pirates outlasted the St. Louis Cardinals, 6-5.
Tonight, the Pirates will attempt to make a statement with an opening series sweep against the Cardinals, a team coming off a season-high 100 wins last season.
Pittsburgh righthander Juan Nicasio will get the start for the Pirates, and his mound opponent will be Mike Leake.
Nicasio is coming off a spring training where he did not allow a run and struck out 24 batters in 15 innings of work. Against the Cardinals, he owns a 1-2 career record with a 6.59 ERA in six career games, two of which are starts. The Cardinals have a .303 average against Nicasio.
Leake has seen his name end up in the win column more often than not against the Pirates. He is 8-3 with a 3.01 ERA in 24 career starts against them.
“I don’t know if he needs to adjust to us,” said manager Clint Hurdle. “Based on past performance, I can’t imagine that he’d want to. … It’s always been tough competition. He can throw any pitch at any time and challenge your discipline.”
Bullpen slows game down
It is no secret that, when Pirates starting pitcher Jon Niese exited Tuesday’s game after five innings, the pace of play was fairly quick. Because of this, it was up to bullpen pitcher Arquimedes Caminero to slow both the game and the Cardinals’ momentum.
Caminero responded by throwing the cleanest inning of the night, striking out one batter and getting the other two to ground out.
“I try to get them out quickly because that’s what we want,” he said.
The answer may have been as short as his inning, but it was effective all the same.
“I will speak for all of the bullpen and say that, whenever we get out there, we try to get the hitters out in the least amount of pitches I can,” Caminero said. “That’s going to play into the quick game. If you get them out in three pitches or less, it’s all going to play out.”
Once last night’s game became a battle between bullpens, the Pirates wanted to stay in their own lane and not worry about what the Cardinals were doing. Instead of getting down or being intimidated by the Cardinals bullpen retiring 18 consecutive Pirates hitters, that fact served as motivation for the Pirates to match what St. Louis was doing.
Pitching can be a deceptive art because of it changing speeds and location of speeds, but perhaps no tool in a pitcher’s arsenal is more important than pace. Tony Watson, who came in for Caminero in the seventh inning, certainly proved that.
Watson knew that once Cardinals pinch hitter Kolten Wong singled, it was just a matter of keeping the infielder’s speed from changing the game, with Watson also needing to focus his efforts at the plate.
“I was just trying to be in control out there,” Watson said. “Wong had a solid hit to lead it off out there. I knew he was going to try to get some action in on the bases, so I just tried to mix my looks and times up. I was just trying to disrupt everyone’s timing, the runner, the hitter and the manager. A lot goes into it, but the bottom line is that you have to execute out there.”
Though Watson did allow a sacrifice bunt to Matt Carpenter, Watson did pause the game on several different occasions by stepping off or going through the motions to throw St. Louis off.
For Watson it was mission accomplished, and the Cardinals did not score in the seventh inning.
“Right there was a big situation,” Watson said. “You know who is coming in their bullpen if they get the lead. It’s not easy on our hitters, so I just wanted to keep it tied and that run on the board. Cervelli and I got on the same page right away and a couple of times called each other out just to slow the pace down a little bit and luckily made some pitches to get out of it.
At the end of the day, the main job for any Pirates reliever is to get the ball to closer Mark Melancon, who came in at the start of the ninth inning and lasted just one inning before the ball was handed to the eventual game-winner, Kyle Lobstein. Last night’s journey began with Caminero, who can touch 100 miles per hour, and it ended with Kyle Lobstein, who did not reach 90 miles per hour at any point during his two innings of work.
“It goes to show you that it is not all about velocity,” Hurdle said.
Tonight’s starting lineups
Pittsburgh Pirates (2-0)
- John Jaso 1B
- Andrew McCutchen CF
- David Freese 3B
- Starling Marte LF
- Francisco Cervelli C
- Gregory Polanco RF
- Josh Harrison 2B
- Jordy Mercer SS
- Juan Nicasio P
St. Louis Cardinals (0-2)
- Matt Carpenter 3B
- Stephen Piscotty RF
- Matt Holliday LF
- Brandon Moss 1B
- Yadier Molina C
- Kolten Wong 2B
- Jedd Gyorko SS
- Jeremy Hazelbaker CF
- Mike Leake P
Bottom of the ninth
Pirates head athletic trainer Todd Tomczyk met with reporters prior to tonight’s game to discuss several different injuries. Pitcher Jared Hughes threw off a slope for the first time on Wednesday afternoon, and the next step is to get him on a mound in the near future. Infielder Jung Ho Kang played five innings in extended spring training, where he had four at-bats and, by design, did not advance past first base. The time table for his return remains mid-to-late April.
In the Cardinals’ Tuesday night loss, both Aledmys Diaz and Jeremy Hazelbaker recorded their first career major league hits. It was the first time two Cardinals matched that accomplishment since Sept. 5, 1990. … Hazelbaker will make his first career start in tonight’s game after fighting to make a major league roster for seven years. “It’s definitely exciting, but it’s another baseball game, and we have to go out and take care of business. It was worth it. All that to get that first hit. It was rewarding to say the least.” … Andrew McCutchen had three hits in Tuesday’s game and now has 1,154 in his career. McCutchen needs four hits to tie Jack Wilson for 22nd on the Pirates all-time list.
Photo credit: Gene J. Puskar/AP Photo
