Earlier in the day, Pittsburgh Pirates manager Clint Hurdle told the media that the team did not have many chances to be aggressive.
That changed Friday.
The Pirates took the extra base and the aggression helped propel them to a 6-3 victory against the Milwaukee Brewers in front of 25,664 fans.
Vance Worley [1-1] got the win nearly a week after getting roughed up for six runs in a loss to these same Brewers. Worley pitched six innings allowing six hits, walking four [two of which were intentional] and striking out six batters over the course of 93 pitches, 60 of which were strikes.
Worley’s biggest pitch came in the fifth with two runners on and it was a double play from Ryan Braun to end the inning.
“It was very clutch, I had him where I wanted him and threw a good pitch to make him go out and fish for it,” Worley said. “He hit it to my defense which was really behind me today and anytime they’re back there playing like that and you get some runs on the board it’s much more fun.”
The Pirates offense disappointed Hurdle in the final two games of the Tigers series, however in this game it registered 11 total hits. There were runners in scoring position in the second, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh innings.
In the fourth inning, the Pirates scoreless streak ended. Francisco Cervelli was hit by the first pitch of the inning. Gregory Polanco followed that up with a 3-1 single and Cervelli who had moved to second on a passed ball advanced another 90 feet to third base. Andrew McCutchen hit an RBI ground out to put the Pirates on the board and tie the game at one. During the 22-plus inning scoreless streak, the Pirates had seven hits and saw 284 pitches, 187 of which were for strikes.
McCutchen’s RBI was his 242nd at PNC Park which passes Jason Bay for the most of any player at the ballpark.
The Brewers scored the first run of the game in the second inning on a Gerardo Parra RBI ground out. Parra took the place of Carlos Gomez who was placed on the 15-day disabled list prior to this game.
An additional two Pirates runs were scored in the fifth off Jimmy Nelson [1-1]. Starling Marte opened the inning legging out an infield single. He stole second base and similar to the fourth inning the runner in scoring position advanced to third, this time on a ground ball to second base. Sean Rodriguez, who started for Neil Walker in this game got his first RBI of the season on the next pitch with a single. He would steal second base and score on a Josh Harrison single.
In the sixth inning, Khris Davis started the inning with a single. He registered hits in each of his first three plate appearances. He would score when Parra, the next batter hit an RBI off the Clemente Wall in right field. Polanco misplayed this ball off the wall and it rolled allowing Davis to score.
Jared Hughes pitched the seventh inning and needed seven pitches to retire the side. Five of the pitches were strikes. Tony Watson followed Hughes pitching the eighth inning and working two full counts. He retired the side and ended his 19 pitch outing with a strikeout of Davis.
The Pirates added three runs in the bottom of the eighth inning off reliever Jonathan Broxton. Polanco registered his second opposite field hit. He stole second and catcher Jonathan Lucroy’s error allowed for Polanco to reach third base. Alvarez hit an opposite field single that scored Polanco.
“We talk about it all the time and more often than not it is the game plan,” manager Clint Hurdle said. “The successful games we’ve had where we’ve scored some runs we’ve been hitting the ball to the big part of the field, letting the ball travel, letting it deeper, we’re not committing early, we’re hitting with a slow heartbeat and we did more of that tonight. It was a good night for us to regain some momentum on that side of the ball.”
Marte than stepped up to the plate and with the fans chanting his name hit his second home run of the season 451 feet on a 2-0 pitch.
Antonio Bastardo made his first appearance in a week and he allowed pinch hitter Jason Rogers to hit a one-out double. Rogers scored on a Jean Segura single forcing Hurdle to go to his closer Mark Melancon since the game became a save situation. Bastardo struck out two batters in his two-thirds of an inning.
Melancon faced Lucroy and he fouled out on the first pitch to end the game. It was Melancon’s first save of the season.
These teams will meet again Saturday with Kyle Lohse [0-2 11.17 ERA] facing Jeff Locke [1-0 3.00 ERA]. Game time is 7:05 p.m.
