In a game that saw thirteen pitchers and 24 position players, Andrew McCutchen’s deep fly in the bottom of the 12th inning proved to be the difference in a Pirates 4 – 3 comeback victory.
The Brewers struck in the first for the second when Jean Segura hit a one out laser into the left field seats for a 1 – 0 lead. The Pirates, though, would strike back with a run for themselves. Starling Marte upped his average to .545 (18-for-33) in the first inning with a single to left. Jose Tabata would then single and Andrew McCutchen would move Marte to third setting up first and third for Garret Jones.
Jones would hit a 3 – 2 pitch to second basemen, Ricky Weeks, but Clint Hurdle had the Hit-and-Run on taking out the thought of a double play which allowed Marte to score to tie the game up. Hurdle stressed before the game that the Pirates have the personnel to use the Hit-and-Run more often.
The Brewers would take the lead back in the 4th when Ryan Braun doubled to lead-off the inning and scored on a Carlos Gomez RBI double to right to make it 2 – 1. They would make it 3 – 1 in the 5th when Nori Aoki grounded a ball back to the mound and off of the leg of Locke. Locke would then throw two wild pitches before getting Segura to groundout, allowing Aoki to score.
The Buccos would bounce back in the 6th. Neil Walker would lead the inning off with a walk and advance to third on a Russell Martin double. Walker would then score on a Clint Barmes RBI groundout to make it 3 – 2. Gaby Sanchez would then pinch-hit and walk to make it 1st and 3rd with two out, but Marte would flyout to right to end the threat. The Pirates were 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position on the night after 7 innings.
That trend wouldn’t change in the 8th but the score would. Walker led off the inning with a walk and two batters later scored on Russell Martin’s second double of the night. In total, Martin had 2 doubles and a walk in his return from a neck injury. “It felt great. They gave us an opportunity to win the game and I feel like every other night it seems like someone is coming through with a big hit late in the game to comeback. There’s a lot of fight in this team and we never feel like we’re out of a game.” Said Martin.
Walker was gunned down at home, but Segura’s relay was over catcher, Martin Maldonado’s head allowing Martin to reach third. He would be stranded there, though as Barmes would groundout to third and pinch hitter, Travis Snider would strikeout to end the inning.
The game would go into the bottom of the 12th inning where Andrew McCutchen, who hit two balls deep to the warning track earlier in the game, knocked a Mike Fiers 2 – 2 pitch over the right-center field fence for a Pirates walk-off victory. Cutch normally savors his walk-off shots, but tonight he wasn’t quite sure it was going out. “Considering the previous two balls flew out at the wall, I hit the stuff out of the ball and they went nowhere so right off the bat, I didn’t know so I booked it trying to get a triple out of it.”
Don’t worry, Cutch. This one traveled far enough. Final score: Pirates 4, Brewers 3.
These two will be in action for game 3 of this 4-game series tomorrow night at 7:05.
Starters Lines:
Locke (ND): 6 IN, 3 R, 3 ER, 7 H, 1 BB, 6 K’s, 2 WP, 1 HR. 96 Pitches (58 Strikes)
Lohse (ND): 5 2/3 IN, 2 R, 2 ER, 5 H, 5 BB, 3 K’s. 104 Pitches (70 Strikes)
Tomorrow’s Starters:
(LHP) Wandy Rodriguez (PIT) 3 – 2, 3.62 ERA
(RHP) Yovani Gallardo (MIL) 3 – 2, 4.70 ERA
(Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images)
