James McDonald was an All-Star snub. There, I said it. In his first start since the All-Star team was selected, he was out to prove that he was overlooked by his peers. The only problem is, McDonald didn’t pitch like he belonged in Kansas City early on in Monday night’s game against the Astros. While he wasn’t horrible at all, he did walk three in the first inning and gave up a first inning run which put Houston on the board first. However, with his best Houdini impression throughout the night, J-Mac disappeared out of trouble time and time again. He did however, as indicated by the 11-2 score, have a little help from his offense.
“Our lineup is amazing right now,” McDonald said. “It’s like every guy is a tough out. There is no easy out in our lineup right now. Everyone is swinging the bat. The offense has picked up like I knew they would. I have been saying it all year, ‘just wait, just wait.’ This is it. This is the offense you see.”
The Pirates hot bats didn’t want to stop in June as they compiled 18 hits, including nine extra-base hits (two homers, two triples, five doubles) off of Houston pitching. It wasn’t until the fourth inning though, that they were able to capitalize thanks to the foul pole in right field. Not only did the Pirates hit back-to-back homers for the fifth time this season, but Garrett Jones and Neil Walker went back-to-back off the foul pole.
“Two balls off the pole, how often does that happen,” Pirates Manager Clint Hurdle said. “Three feet different, they’re both foul balls. They both hit the pole, it worked for us.”
“It was cool to see Walker do it right after me,” Jones said. “It was a great offensive game.”
An RBI single by Clint Barmes would drive in Casey McGehee following his double to push the lead to 4-1 in favor of the Pirates. The Pirates would continue to pile on the runs against Houston with four runs on four hits, all extra-base hits, in the fifth inning. A sixth inning homer by Scott Moore would be the only other run the Astros would collect.
Andrew McCutchen, Walker, Jones and McGehee would combine for 13 of the Pirates’ 18 hits on the night. Jones would win up just a triple shy of the cycle and break his 0-24 slump against lefties with an infield single in the sixth.
“It wasn’t the best hit, but it was still a hit and I was able to get the run in,” Jones said with a smile. “I was able to get that first one out of the way for the year, and hopefully will be able to face them more often.”
Although it was not his best effort of the season, McDonald will take a win any day.
“I was happy with the way I recovered,” McDonald said. “I think that’s the big difference between this year and last year. I think this year I’m better with recovering and getting myself back into it.”
Another All-Star snub in many peoples’ minds is A.J. Burnett, who will take the hill tomorrow against Lucas Harrell (7-6, 4.33 ERA) of the Astros. Jones said while it was nice to take the first game, the Astros are going to come out swinging tomorrow.
“It’s tough on them, they got to try to come back tomorrow,” Jones said. “They’re definitely going to want to come back and score some runs and get after it tomorrow. We just have to play our game. It’s only one game and yeah it was a very offensive game and a great overall game, but today is over and we have three more games against them. We want to take the series.”
Photo Credits: Getty Images
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