CHRISTOPHER PANSINO – OVATHLETICS.COM
Not much went well for the Pirates yesterday, as before the game started Ross Ohlendorf had to be scratched from the lineup after waking up with back spasms.
His replacement Brain Burres was called up from Triple-A on a last stitch effort to keep the pitching rotation in tact.
Burres was the fifth starter on the Pirates Triple-A affiliate and had a 14.73 ERA in spring training. However due to a MLB rule stating that no 40-man player can be recalled until Wednesday unless another player is placed on the disable list, Burres was the Pirates last option. It also didn’t hurt that he was scheduled to pitch today in Indianapolis as well.
As it might be expected Burres struggled today as he pitched only 4 innings, allowing 8 hits and 6 earned runs before being pulled for a pinch hitter in the top of the fifth.
Meanwhile the Giants got a great game out of their starter Barry Zito who held the Pirates to 5 hits and 3 run though six innings.
Pirates would eventually lose by a score of 9-3 and much like the other blowout losses got almost nothing out of their hitters.
In fact the only hitter who had a decent game was Iwamura who finished 2-5 and 2 RBI, scoring runners in both the fifth and seventh innings.
The Pirates also had another questionable fielding day, thought the statistics did not show it.
In the first inning Lastings Millage misplayed the hang on ball allowing the ball to drop in for a two run RBI single for Mark DeRosa.
Then in the sixth inning Iwamura was called off an easy pop fly by right fielder Garrett Jones who had to run a good distance to make a play he couldn’t reach. This mistake would cost the Pirates a run later in the inning.
Both plays could have gone down as an error, however neither one did.
On a positive note, Joel Hanrahan returned today after missing spring training with a strained elbow. Hanrahan pitched a scoreless seventh inning and struck out two batters despite some control issues.
Also John Ranor got his first major league hit of his career yesterday on a pinch hit in the fifth inning.
