PITTSBURGH — In front of the largest home finale crowd in PNC Park history of 28,758 on Sunday afternoon, The Pittsburgh Pirates attempted to rally back from a two-run deficit in the bottom of the 9th.
Andrew McCutchen drew a leadoff walk and advanced to second base on a wild pitch by the Reds closer Francisco Cordero. The Pittsburgh kid, Neil Walker hit a RBI double off the scoreboard in right to bring the game within one run. But from there, the Pirates were unable to get Walker to touch home plate as they dropped the final home game of the season, 5-4.
The Bucs were unable to get the sweep but did win the final series at home this season, finishing 36-45 at PNC Park this year.
“The ball club has a lot of the same characteristics of the city,” Pirates Manager Clint Hurdle said. “It’s a blue collar bunch. The names aren’t house hold names from the East coast to the West coast. The names are big here. I believe there was a very solid step taken forward in building something. I really believe that’s one of the reasons why we had the largest season finale crowd that we’ve had in organizational history. The city appreciates hard work, no nonsense, no excuses, roll your sleeves up, get dirty, find a way. That was our plan everyday that we took the field. Obviously some days we executed it better than others.”
The Pirates have seen a emotional roller coaster season going from first place in the division to currently 22 games out. One of Hurdle’s goals to do this season was to rebound a city with a baseball team. The numbers proved for that to be true.
“A lot of fan support,” Walker said. “A lot of people getting back on the Pirates bandwagon per say. More than that, playing pretty good baseball. We know we’re building something here. We’ve had a lot of ups and downs. We’ve had a lot of injuries. We’ve had a lot of things to overcome this year but all in all, I think it’s going to make us a better team in 2012.”
PNC Park drew 1,940,429 on the year, 80 dates that averaged 24,255 fans. It marked the fourth largest season total in club history.
“I think if you’re a fan and you spent anytime in that clubhouse you probably got all the emotions you had in ya’ out on the table over the course of the season,” Hurdle said. “I don’t think we missed any. I know there was a buying in the clubhouse. We’ve got a lot of voices but there’s one heartbeat. I believe the fans appreciated that throughout the season. You saw the weekend crowd. Their support, even when it got ugly. And the noise, obviously when it was good. The finish today, we were one run short. That’s kind of the way its been more often than not the last 50 games. But I’m proud of the effort. We’ve got to work on execution but the fan support as been fantastic. At the end of the day, I’m looking forward to spending the winter here and thanking everyone I can for their support of the ball club this year.”
Right-hander James McDonald took the mound for his final start of the season. And the first two innings were a struggle. In fact, Hurdle mentioned after the game that at one point in the 2nd, he was one hit or one walk of being pulled from the game.
“I saw the bullpen up and then I remember I went to the dugout and told Hurdle that I’m going back out there,” McDonald said. “I said I wanted the ball. I didn’t want to be taken out of the game.”
To start the game, Brandon Phillips drew a four pitch walk. With one out, Joey Votto hit a bloop single into center field and Jay Bruce followed with a RBI single up the right side to take an early 1-0 lead.
But from there, McDonald was able to escape the inning, with just the one run scoring. Votto was caught trying to steal third base and Chris Heisey flew out to right field to end the inning.
More struggles came in the 2nd.
McDonald and catcher Michael McKenry, who hadn’t worked together in a while, struggled to get on the same page in the first few innings. The chemistry wasn’t there and McKenry made several trips out to the mound.
Juan Francisco leadoff the inning with a double to right field. Devin Mesoraco reached second on an error by third baseman Josh Harrison. Paul Janish hit a sac fly to left field to take a 2-0 lead. Brandon Phillips hit a RBI single up the middle to plate the second run off McDonald in the inning.
After getting the final out of the inning, McDonald had thrown 58 pitches, looking as if he would hit the showers early.
“I think you saw two different pitchers out there today,” Hurdle said. “He got a little methodical, had a little trouble matching up, communicating. The game plan with Mac back there, it really was a struggle for the first two innings. He saw us getting some action in the bullpen and came out after the second and he said, ‘please let me go back out there.’ I said, ‘You’re going back out there. Get out there and get something done.’ And that’s just what he did for the next three innings…It was a good finish for him.”
After that inning, McDonald became a different pitcher for the next three frames. After throwing 58 pitches through the first two innings, McDonald was able to finish five innings, topping out at 105 pitches.
“I just made the adjustment, done in the zone, strike one,” McDonald said. “I just got refocused, kind of settled down a little bit.”
McDonald allowed three runs (one earned) on six hits over five innings. He walked two and struck out four.
“There are some pieces that we need to fortify,” Hurdle said. “We’ve got some nice players in place. We found out what we have off the mound. I think when the season finished up last year, you talked about the shape of the pitching, I think there’s a different conversation after the end of this season. As well as in the bullpen. I think the defense was able to step forward. Offensively we’ve got work to do. We got the players in place to do good things.”
McDonald finished the season with a 9-9 record and a 4.09 ERA in 31 starts this season. J-Mac has a team-leading 142 strikeouts this season, the most by a Pirates right-hander since Ian Snell led the team with 177 strikeouts in 2007.
“It’s important to finish on a positive note so you can keep working on things that got you going in the right direction at the end of the year into the off-season and first day of spring [training]” McDonald said.
The biggest learning lesson for J-Mac in his first full seasons in the Majors was just being humbled.
“I say I got humbled, big time,” McDonald said. “That first month, I struggled. I felt like I slowly progressed. The second half was a lot better. I think I became a better pitcher towards the end of the year. I got better, so I accomplished my goal this year: just getting better.”
The Pirates were able to tie the game up at 3 in the bottom of the 2nd inning. Derrek Lee hit a leadoff single to right field. He then advanced to second base, then to third base on two wild pitched by Reds starter Dontrelle Willis.
The Pirates took advantage of it.
“We’ve been on the brink a lot of different times and we’ve found a way to put a foot down and make something good happen,” Hurdle said. “We’ve got more work to do. The record isn’t where we want. But steps were taken to building something that I believe is going to have significance. And going to get this city behind its ball club for an entire season. That’s the goal for next season: to finish what we started. We got to start well next year.”
With runners on the corners and one out, Chase d’Arnaud, who has gone 4-for-33 (.121 avg) in his last 19 games since coming off the disabled list, ripped a two-run triple into the notch. Michael McKenry followed with a sac fly to left field to tie the game at 3.
The game remained tied until the Red legs were able to plate two runs off lefty reliever Daniel Moskos.
With one out in the 6th, Mesoraco and Paul Janish hit back-to-back hits. Willis, who entered the game with a Majors leading .407 average for a starting pitcher, ripped a two-run double into right center field to take a 5-3 lead.
Hurdle called upon Chris Leroux from the bullpen, who struck out the next two batters to end the inning.
The Pirates were able to battle back in the 9th for one run, but were unable to get the win in the home finale in Pittsburgh.
“We’ve really worked hard to try to find an identity, from an offensive standpoint, ”Walker said. “Pitching and defense has really been our strong point this year. But to battle in close games, that’s going to help us down the road for sure.”
Despite an up and down season for the club, the season, which has three remaining games in Milwaukee, hasn’t finished without huge steps forward in valuable experience.
“There’s a lot of factors that have gone into our ups and downs this year,” Walker said. “I think experience is a big key too. We had 52 guys play this year, which is a lot above the norm. In my opinion that’s going to help us because a lot of the young guys are getting experience. A lot of us younger guys are getting in the kind of pressure situations, type of game experience that we need to take it to the next level. It’s not easy. These are the best ballplayers in the world and we’re learning day in and day out how to fight, how to survive and how to improve.”
“I think one of the great benefits is going to be another’s years experience for this group of men who have taken from one year to two, two years to three,” Hurdle said. “ And actually have had a taste of three and half months of being in the heat, being involved in things. To get thrown upside and have to figure some thing out are just as important. There wasn’t a head held high at the end of the game. We felt like we were going to come back. The fight was there.”
Photo credit: Yahoo! Sports
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