The Pittsburgh Pirates came into this season with the mindset to break the 20yr streak and make the postseason. Well, they got off to a pretty good start by going 15 – 12 to surprise us all against a rather tough opening schedule.
The season began at home on a cold morning on April Fool’s day. There was even a snow shower that caused the Pirate players to flee batting practice in order to get indoors where it was warm. That pretty much summed up their first week at the plate, as well, as the Pirates would only score 8 runs in their first 6 (3 vs. Cubs, 3 @ Dodgers) games en route to a 1 – 5 record. The pitching was there, though, as the staff would only allow 3 runs or less in the first 5 games.
Things would right themselves starting in Arizona as the bats would wake up. The Pirates would plate 13 runs in a series victory against the Diamondbacks before starting a 10-game home stand with three of last year’s NL playoff participants (3 vs. Reds, 3 vs. Cardinals, 4 vs. Braves). Ironically, the offense awakened just hours after Andrew McCutchen resurrected the Zoltan “Z” that had become a craze amongst the team, fans, and others around Major League baseball.
The bats would remain hot throughout the home stand as the Buccos swept the NL Central Champion, Cincinnati Reds out of Pittsburgh. The highlight of the series would be in the final game as the Pirates scored 10-times in the final 3 innings to erase a Reds 5 – 0, and 6 – 4 lead.
The momentum would remain into the rain-shortened 2-game set with the Cardinals. After losing the first game 10 – 6, A.J. Burnett would take the mound and throw a masterpiece as he took a no-hitter 2 outs into the 7th inning. He would get plenty of offense as the Bucs knocked out 5 runs on 11 hits.
The final opponent on the home stand would be the red-hot Atlanta Braves who came into the 4-game series with a 12 – 2 record along with one of the hottest hitting teams, led by Justin Upton and the best bullpen in the league. Both would show in the first game as Upton, along with 3 other Braves, homered and the bullpen pitched perfect ball for the 6 – 4 win.
That would be the only time Braves pen had a chance to pitch as Wandy Rodriguez did his best Burnett impersonation by throwing seven innings of one-hit ball in a Pirate 6 – 0 victory. The Bucs would then win the final two games 3 – 1 and 4 – 2 in scrappy fashion to finish the home stand at 7 – 2.
The Pirates would then take to the road for 10 more games in the second half of their 20-games in 20 day marathon. (4 @ Phillies, 3 @ Cardinals, 3 @ Brewers). The Philadelphia series looked bleak on paper going in with the Phils throwing Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, and Cole Hamels behind Jonathan Pettibone, who was making his ML debut in the series-opener.
Pirates fans hoped the Bucs could get to the rookie before trying to salvage a game from one of the three aces, but a funny thing happened, they did the direct opposite and dropped the opener before getting to the Philly bullpen for 3-straight victories. The Pirate pen, named the “Shark Tank” by its inhabitants, stayed sharp as they shut down the Philly offense.
After getting clobbered in another series-opening loss in St. Louis, the Pirates played come-from-behind again in game 2 as they would score 5-times in the final 3 innings to win 5 – 3. They wouldn’t need any heroics in the final game of the series as Jeff Locke threw seven innings of 3-hit ball in a 9 – 0 victory for their 15th win in the month which is the most in April since 1992.
The Pirates would finish off their tough 20-game stretch with three in Milwaukee, better known to Pirates’ fans as the “House of Horrors” because of their 7 – 44 record at the home of the Brewers in their last 51 games.
It would be the same story as the Brewers hit 5 homers in game 1 for a 10 – 4 victory. Wandy Rodriguez only lasted 3 2/3 innings while allowing 7 earned runs. Jonathan Sanchez, who was ejected 4 batters into the Pirates only loss in St. Louis, didn’t do much better as he allowed two solo-homers. He would be DFA’d after the game.
The offense would show up for the final game of April. But the pitching was nowhere to be found as James McDonald and the Pirate bullpen would get shelled to the tune of three more homers and 12 runs. The Bucs would hit four homers, themselves, but only totaled 8 runs in their first series defeat since being swept in LA. The Pirates are now 7 – 46 at the Brewers going into their May, 1st meeting in Milwaukee.
All-in-all, it was a very successful month for the Pirates. They survived the rough stretch of some of the best teams in the NL and are only a half game out of first place in the Central. In doing so, they had the best opening month since the last playoff team had the same amount of wins in ’92.
A major contribution to the efforts is a squad that has seen contribution from every guy on the roster. Russell Martin has already almost matched Rod Barajas’s home run mark from last season in the opening month and has a much higher batting average and OPS. Travis Snider has showed that he can really contribute when he is healthy and Starling Marte has shown that he can be the 5-tool athlete that scouts have seen in the minors.
The pitching staff has taken some bumps over the last week but help is on the horizon as Fransisco Liriano and Charlie Morton could be with the team within the next 10 days along with reliever Jose Contraras.
It’s early, but there could be some great things ahead.
