GAME RECAP: Pirates Outlast Phillies 1-0
Left fielder Starling Marte broke a
scoreless tie in the bottom of the 13th inning with an RBI single up the
middle, sending the Pirates to a 1-0 win over the Phillies at PNC Park on
Friday night, their first walk-off victory of the season. And they had to wait
a while for it. More so than just the other 59 games they'd played this year.
Rain delayed the start of the game by an hour and 26 minutes. Pittsburgh and
Philadelphia then traded zeroes for four hours, 34 minutes and 12 1/2 innings
before pinch-hitter Chris Stewart singled,
moved to second on a groundout and scored -- after 1 a.m. ET on Saturday
morning -- on Marte's ground ball single to center off Phillies reliever Dustin McGowan. "I was focused. Hit the ball to
the middle," Marte said. "It was a good pitch to hit the ball that
way. … Be focused on one pitch, try to hit the ball." The two clubs
finished a combined 1-for-19 with runners in scoring position, leaving 30
runners on base. "Twenty-five zeroes, the number of men left on base for
both sides, pitchers on both sides pitching through things, making pitches when
they had to -- I don't know if I've ever been involved with one of this
magnitude to go 13 innings like that," Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said.
"It was a wonderful game to watch." It was the 900th win of Hurdle's career,
making him the fifth active manager to reach that milestone. He joins the
Giants' Bruce Bochy, the Angels' Mike Scioscia, the Orioles' Buck Showalter and
the Indians' Terry Francona in the 900-win club. The Pirates had a chance to
pull ahead in the 10th, loading the bases with a pair of singles and the
Phillies intentionally walked Jordy Mercer to load the bases with two outs. Corey Hart, making
his first plate appearance since June 5 as a pinch-hitter, struck out to leave
the bases loaded. Before that, Pittsburgh's Jeff Locke and Philadelphia's Kevin Correia squared off in an unlikely pitchers'
duel. Locke allowed six hits, but no runs, in his first three innings then
responded with three hitless innings after that.
Correia, making his season debut,
held his former club to five hits and a walk while striking out four over 5 2/3
innings.
OTHER
NOTES FROM THE DAY:
- After Francisco Cervelli
singled and moved to second base on a sacrifice bunt, Phillies reliever Luis Garcia had to
deal with a runner in scoring position and just one out. He managed well,
though. Garcia walked pinch-hitter Jung Ho Kang, but
forced Polanco to ground out and struck out Marte with runners on second
and third to keep the game scoreless.
- After Harrison reached on a two-out
single back to the mound and a throwing error by reliever Ken Giles in the
eighth inning, Pedro Alvarez was
intentionally walked. Giles then walked Cervelli to load the bases, and
fell behind Mercer, 3-0, but came back to strike him out and strand the
bases loaded.
- There weren't many familiar faces in
the Phillies' lineup Locke faced Friday night, but the end result was the
same as always. The lefty didn't factor into the decision, but he remained
4-0 and lowered his ERA to 1.10 in five career starts against
Philadelphia.
- With Mercer on first base and nobody
out in the third inning, Locke dropped a sacrifice bunt that rolled just
in front of home plate. Phillies catcher Cameron Rupp
picked it up and tried to get the forceout at second, but Mercer beat the
tag and Locke beat the throw to first. The Phillies challenged whether
Mercer was out at second, and the call stood after a one-minute, 49-second
review.
NEXT
GAME:
Right-hander Gerrit Cole, who leads
the Majors with a 1.73 ERA and is tied for first with nine wins, will take the
mound for Pittsburgh on Saturday. Cole has a chance to become the Majors' first
10-game winner this season. The 24-year-old has made himself into an early
candidate for the National League Cy Young Award, having won each of his last
four starts while posting a 0.61 ERA during that stretch. Right-hander Sean O'Sullivan looks to turn things around in his
ninth start of the season against the Pirates at 4:05 ET on Saturday at PNC
Park. O'Sullivan (1-4, 4.96 ERA) has surrendered 14 runs over his last three
starts.
PHILS PHACTS:
Offense Remains Silent – Philadelphia's
pitchers did their part in a 13-inning game, but it still ended in a 1-0 loss to the
Pirates on Friday night at PNC Park. Veteran right-hander Kevin Correia made his 2015 debut, and held the
Pirates scoreless for 5 2/3 innings. From there, the bullpen threw seven
shutout innings in a valiant effort. The Phillies' offense just could not get a
run across, leaving 13 runners on base and going 0-for-9 with runners in
scoring position. "We had opportunities," Phillies manager Ryne
Sandberg said. "We had some chances, primarily early and late. They came
up with the big hit." The Pirates did come through with the game's lone
RBI -- a single into center field by Starling Marte off reliever Dustin McGowan. But aside
from McGowan's 91-mph slider, which slipped past the outstretched gloves of the
middle infielders, the Phillies' pitching staff -- Correia and the bullpen --
were as good as they needed to be. Correia said he thought he might be a bit rusty.
It was his first time on a Major League mound this season, and his first start
since allowing seven runs on Aug. 24, 2014, as a member of the Dodgers. But to
the contrary, the journeyman right-hander was sharp, allowing five hits with
four strikeouts. "He showed moving stuff. Effectively wild at times, but
he made pitches," Sandberg said. "For his first outing, I think he
did a really nice job." Correia, who spent the 2015 season up until this
point in the Minors, felt like he got away with a couple of pitches, but was
happy to be throwing in the big leagues. Of course, it came at a small price --
on two occasions, Correia, while not hurt, was hit by balls off the bat.
"It was a welcome back kind of thing," Correia said. The bullpen's
effort, which included appearances by McGowan, Elvis Araujo, Luis Garcia, Ken Giles, Justin De Fratus and Jeanmar Gomez, were nearly
flawless. As a unit, the relievers scattered eight hits and struck out eight.
But Philadelphia's bats couldn't muster a run. The Phillies especially
struggled with two outs. Of the nine runners in scoring position on the evening
for the Phillies, six of them were left on with two outs. Both teams were
caught in the same rhythm offensively: get runners on base, move them into
scoring position, and strand them. Unfortunately for the Phillies, the Pirates
broke that rhythm first. "It came down to one hit that found the hole with
a man on base," Sandberg said. "It took a long time to get that, and
we came up on the short end of that."
Letting Out The Frustration – Ken Giles was not happy, and neither were his
coaches. In a 1-0 loss to the
Pirates on Friday night at PNC Park, Giles showed frustration following a mound
visit, after which he intentionally walked Pedro Alvarez with two outs and a runner on second
base in the bottom of the eighth inning. After an apparently reluctant
intentional walk to Alvarez, Giles unintentionally walked Francisco Cervelli before fighting back from a 3-0
count to strike out Jordy Mercer. Giles
stormed off the hill, made a hand gesture, and took his seat in the dugout. Manager
Ryne Sandberg and pitching coach Bob McClure located Giles in the dugout,
voicing their frustrations at the 24-year-old right-hander. Sandberg said there
was frustration between both parties as they "talked about some game
situations," and that everything was taken care of internally. The frame
started well for Giles. The hard-throwing reliever was getting his fastball up
to 97 mph and used it effectively to strike out Pirates star outfielder Andrew McCutchen and then force Neil Walker to ground out. Seeking a 1-2-3 inning,
Giles tried to throw out Josh Harrison on a
grounder that ricocheted off him, but instead sailed his throw over first base
and into the stands. That woke up a sleepy crowd, and applied a bit of
pressure. The subsequent walks only heightened Giles' visible annoyance on the
bump, and he nearly walked in the go-ahead run before briefly settling and
retiring Mercer with three consecutive high-90s fastballs. Sandberg said he has
no problem with players being emotional. In fact, he welcomes it -- just not
for everyone with a set of eyes to see. "There was some frustration,"
Sandberg said. "There's a time and a place and situations to show
that."
THE BEGINNING:
The
Phillies are starting the season as expected and are now at the bottom of the
NL east at 22-40. Given the departures, aging stars, injuries, and performance
this spring, don’t expect their competitive place in the standings to last. All
time, the Phillies are 48-49-2 on this day.
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