Four games into his Major League Baseball career, Gregory Polanco has already made quite the impact. On Friday night in Miami, the Pittsburgh Pirates (33-34) needed every one of his five hits, the fifth being a game-winning two-run home run in the top of the 13th inning. Jeanmar Gomez (1-2) pitched four scoreless innings of relief to earn the victory over the Marlins (34-32).
Pittsburgh jumped out to a 6-2 lead, knocking Marlins starter Nathan Eovaldi out of the game before he completed five innings. Starling Marte homered in the first for a quick 2-0 advantage, scoring Polanco. Andrew McCutchen singled home Marte in the third to make it 3-1 and Ike Davis doubled home two runs in the fifth for a 5-2 advantage at that point. Davis would later score on a single by Jordy Mercer.
With the game seemingly in hand, Justin Wilson relieved starter Jeff Locke (8 IP, 2 ER, 7 H, 0 BB, 7 K) for the ninth inning. Wilson got one out but walked two and Jason Grilli was summoned for a save opportunity. He would proceed to walk three and a two-run single by Reed Johnson left the Pirates clinging to a 6-5 lead when Grilli was removed by manager Clint Hurdle.
Mark Melancon was then officially charged with a blown save when he walked Casey McGehee with the bases loaded to allow a 6-6 tie. Two runs were charged to Wilson and two were charged to Grilli in an ugly six-walk, four-run ninth inning collapse by the normally stout “Shark Tank” bullpen.
Gomez got 12 outs in the four extra innings, allowing one hit, one walk and striking out four. In the top of the 13th, Clint Barmes singled and was sacrificed to second on a Gomez bunt. Polanco then smashed his first career Major League home run to give Pittsburgh the lead again. It was his fifth hit of the night, making him the first rookie to have a five-hit game in one of his first four career games since Cecil Travis in 1933, according to Elias Sports Bureau.
Polanco is now hitting .381 (8-21) with seven singles, the home run, five runs scored and three RBI. The impressive trio of he, Marte and McCutchen combined for an 11-21 night at the plate, each having multi-hit games, scoring six combined runs and driving in five.
Game two of the three-game weekend series at Marlins Park is tomorrow at 4:10, featuring Charlie Morton (3-7, 3.14 ERA) against veteran Randy Wolf (1-2, 4.15). The Pirates will attempt to move to .500 on the season, a mark they have not been at since improving to 8-8 with a win on April 17 over Milwaukee.
