The Pittsburgh Pirates showed Friday night what can happen when the baseball lands where it’s supposed to go — in the fielders’ gloves.
After two passed balls, an error and a fly ball that should have been caught turned into the decisive run in an Opening Day loss, the Pirates committed no erros and recorded their first victory of the season, 4-3 against the Miami Marlins at loanDepot park.
Backed by Oneil Cruz’s two-run homer that reached 115 mph off the bat, starting pitcher Mitch Keller was mainly in control through most of his six-inning outing, the longest season debut of his seven-year career. At one time — from the second through fifth innings — he retired 10 batters in a row.
The streak was broken and the Marlins scored their first run when Derek Hill reached base on an infield single to third base — an out call was overturned on review — and scored on Graham Pauley’s double into the right-field corner.
Keller threw 86 pitches (58 strikes), striking out four and allowing only five hits and one walk.
Relief pitchers Caleb Ferguson and Ryan Borucki maintained a 4-1 lead in the seventh and eighth innings. David Bednar, who also pitched the ninth and was the losing pitcher Thursday, gave up a two-run homer to Otto Lopez to start the ninth. But two groundball outs to shortstop and a game-ending strikeout of Hill nailed down the victory and Bednar’s first save.
Cruz, who allowed a catchable fly ball to drop for a triple Thursday, said he did not let the previous game linger.
“We just move on. Things happen for a reason,” he said through translator Stephen Morales on the SportsNet Pittsburgh postgame show. “(Thursday) wasn’t my best game. We came out here and did our best.”
He was encouraged by the fifth-inning home run that he said was a product of preseason work.
“It’s a really good sign,” he said of the homer that came after he took the first pitch for a strike. “We’ve been working on that since spring training to have better at-bats and take pitches. It paid off.”
After three scoreless innings to start the game, the Pirates scored twice in the fourth.
To open the inning, Cruz and Joey Bart walked. Andrew McCutchen followed with a double to left-center — his 799th career extra-base hit — to drive in a run and give him 2,153 career hits. That ties him for 206th place all-time with Victor Martinez and Don Mattingly.
The Marlins, who committed four errors in the field, gifted the second run when Adam Frazier flied out to right field with Bart on third base. Bart tagged up and might have been out at home plate, but the throw from Griffin Conine was cut off by first baseman Matt Mervis.
Categories: Pirates/MLB | Sports
