After the Pirates gutted out two wins over the Phillies in the opening series, they knew things were only going to get tougher on their west coast trip. In his post game news conferences, Pirates Manager Clint Hurdle has continuously said how impressed he was with his pitching, and how the team will go as far as they go. Squaring off against the Dodgers Clayton Kershaw, Pirates hurler Kevin Correia knew he would have to continue the impressive pitching to keep the Pirates in the game. And do that he did. Unfortunately for the Pirates, the Dodgers were able to best them in game one of the three-game set 2-1.
Similar to Jeff Karstens, Correia gave up his only run of the game in the first inning. Dee Gordon led off the inning with a single and a stolen base. The Dodgers then used old-school baseball tactics as Mark Ellis moved the runner to third, before Matt Kemp drove Gordon in with a groundout. Manufacturing a run at its best.
The Pirates, had their shot to even the score in the first inning when Casey McGehee turned what looked to be a routine fly ball into a triple after Matt Kemp lost it in the sun. Knowing that opportunities like this don’t come everyday against Kershaw, the Pirates knew the importance of capitalizing on the lead off triple. Unfortunately for the Pirates, they left McGehee stranded after strikeouts by Matt Hague and Neil Walker and a fly out by Rod Barajas.
The Pirates finally broke through in the seventh inning where after back-to-back singles to start the inning for Alex Presley and Andrew McCutchen, Matt Hague had his second game-tying RBI in as many games driving in Presley to even the score. With the phenomenal starts by the pitchers complete, both teams would turn to their bullpen.
After Juan Cruz pitched a successful seventh, the Pirates called upon Jason Grilli in the eighth. After striking out Kemp on three straight pitches, Grilli was taken deep to right field by Andre Ethier, who turned 30 today, on a 2-1 slider to give the Dodgers a 2-1 lead. Javy Guerra came in and closed out the game on an Andrew McCutchen double-play, his third one hit into on the young season.
Once again the Pirates bats were quiet against another former Cy Young winner. With the quality start, the Pirates joined the Astros as the only two teams in the majors with four consecutive quality starts to begin the season. Correia, who received a no-decision, pitched great in his first start of the season. He posted a line of six innings pitched allowing four hits, one run, one earned run, while walking two batters and striking out three on 85 pitches. With his start, the Pirates starters have now pitched 25 innings, allowing just five earned runs as a unit.
The win went to Kenley Jansen (1-0) and the loss to Grilli (0-0). Guerra picked up his third save on the season.
Tomorrow’s game will feature Erik Bedard (0-1, 1.29 ERA) for the Pirates, taking on Chad Billingsley (1-0, 0.00 ERA) for the Dodgers. The first pitch is scheduled for 10:10 p.m. ET.
Pirates:
Tabata – 0-4
Presley – 2-4
McCutchen – 1-4
McGehee – 1-3
Hague – 0-3
Walker – 0-3
Barajas – 0-3
Barmes – 0-3
Correia – 1-2
Jones (PH) – 0-1
Dodgers:
Gordon – 1-3
Ellis – 0-4
Kemp – 0-4
Ethier – 2-4
Rivera – 0-4
Loney – 0-2
Uribe – 3-3
Ellis – 0-3
Kershaw – 0-1
Kennedy (PH) – 1-1
Photo credit: Reuters Pictures
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