Through five innings, Matt Garza was nearly perfect on the mound, and at the plate. Unfortunately, the relievers behind him, were not.
A pinch-hit grand slam from Travis Snider off reliever Shawn Camp spoiled Matt Garza’s 2013 debut as the Pirates won 5-4, Tuesday night. Garza had a no-hitter through 4 1/3 innings before Clint Barmes’s one out single in the fifth inning and a two-rbi double in the second inning.
The Cubs got out to a 1-0 lead on Darwin Barney’s two out RBI. With runners on the corners, Barney hit a chopper to the left side that found its way between Clint Barmes and Pedro Alvarez.
Matt Garza followed up with a two run double in the right-centerfield gap, scoring Wellington Castillo and Barney. It was Garza’s first at bat since July 21st of last year, and his first hit since hitting a double on June 7th of 2012.
“I got confused with Garza. I thought he was going to take a pitch so I just threw the ball over the plate and he swung,” said Wandy Rodriguez through a translator, Heberto Andrade.
Despite the hit, it was Garza’s pitching that impressed as the game wore on. The Pirates didn’t get a hit until Clint Barmes’s one out single in the fifth inning. Wandy Rodriguez’s sacrifice bunt moved Gaby Sanchez and Clint Barmes into scoring position, but a groundout by Jose Tabata stranded both runners.
Garza, who was limited to 90 pitches in his first start back from an elbow injury, was lifted for Hector Rondon to start the sixth. Rondon gave up a leadoff double to Neil Walker, a one out single to Garrett Jones, and walked Russell Martin to load the bases.
James Russell came in to face Pedro Alvarez only to walk him, forcing in a run to cut the Chicago lead to 3-1. Russell was then taken out for Shawn Camp. After Gaby Sanchez flew out to left, Clint Hurdle elected to pinch hit Travis Snider for Barmes, setting up Snider’s heroics.
Snider drove a 2-1 pitch to right-centerfield, barely clearing the wall for his first career grand slam. It was the first time a Pirate hit a pinch-hit grand slam since Jason Michaels hit one against Adam Wainwright on June 2nd, 2008 in St. Louis.
“[Camp] made a mistake up in the zone and I just was able to get enough of it to sneak it over the wall and come through,” said Snider who has two home runs in the last five games.
The grand slam would end up being just enough as the Pirates hung on to a 5-4 win.
After scoreless innings from Justin Wilson and Mark Melancon, Jason Grilli gave up an RBI single to Starlin Castro. With runners on the corners and two outs, Jason Grilli struck out Anthony Rizzo to end the game.
Wandy Rodriguez was sharp after giving up three runs in the second inning. After allowing the two RBI double to Garza, Rodriguez scattered two hits over the next four shutout innings. It gave the Pirate hitters a chance to claw their way back into the game after going hitless for over four innings.
“He gave us every opportunity to win the game by keeping us in the game,” said Clint Hurdle.
For the Pirates, effective starting pitching has been key to a 12-6 record in the month of May. Heading into Tuesday’s matchup, Pirate starters had the lowest ERA in the month of May at 2.41. In the last five games, starters have gone 3-0 with a 1.71 ERA.
Francisco Liriano (2-0) will make his third start of the season Wednesday night when he faces off against Jeff Samarszija (2-5).
Photo courtesy of Yahoo! sports
