Francisco Cirvelli hit a big two-run double that put the Pirates ahead for good in their 5-1 win over the St. Louis Cardinals. Juan Nicasio built off his great spring training throwing 6.0 innings of one run baseball in his Pittsburgh Pirates debut.
The Pittsburgh Pirates are starting the season 3-0 for the first time since 2007 as they swept the St. Louis Cardinals today defeating them by a score of 5-1. The offense continued its hot streak to start the season scoring five runs on the night. That was backed by a great start by Juan Nicasio and all-in all it lead to another Pirates victory.
Nicasio continued what was a stellar spring training into the regular season as he made his Pirates debut tonight throwing 6.0 innings giving up one run on two hits while striking out seven batters. Nicasio used the corners effectively throughout tonight's start and was able to strike out batters at a high rate.
Nicasio has never been known as a strikeout pitcher throughout his career. His career high in strikeouts sits at 119 in 157.2 innings pitched. This season, however, he has already started the year striking out seven batters in 6.0 innings of work. Nicasio has some good stuff on the mound and it showed in tonight's start.
Nicasio only allowed two base runners on the night on hits by Yadier Molina and Kolton Wang. He was able to keep his pitches on the corners and not throw anything in the hitting zone for the Cardinals to capitalize on. He struggled pitching in the very hitter friendly Coors Field, but the move to PNC Park will be beneficial for the right hander.
The Pirates wasted no time getting on Mike Leake. They started the game by loading the bases with two hits after singles by Andrew McCutchen and Starling Marte and a walk by Francisco Cirvelli. That brought up Gregory Polanco who drew a walk on a 3-2 pitch to bring in the first run of the ball game and give the Pirates a 1-0 lead.
Leake and Nicasio were both very good the next couple of innings. Leake walked a couple of Pirates batters, but Pittsburgh couldnt bring these runs home. Meanwhile, Nicasio continued his great work retiring the side in order twice between innings number two and four. Nicasio finished up his six innings of work with only a solo home run by Jeremy Hazlebaker to tarnish his day.
The Pirates got back to work in inning number five. It started with Jon Jaso hitting one off of the top of the right field wall for a triple. A throwing error by Wang allowed Jaso to score and gave the Pirates a 2-0 lead. The biggest hit for the Pirates followed as after singles by David Freese and Starling Marte, Francisco Cirvelli stepped up and hit a two-run RBI double to put the Pirates ahead 4-0.
The Pirates would add another run in the sixth inning as Sean Rodriguez hit an RBI double in his first at-bat of the year scoring Jordy Mercer and giving the Pirates a 5-0 lead. The Pirates scored a total of 15 runs in the three games and are a far cry from where they were a year ago when they got swept in the opening series and started the year out 0-3.
The bullpen took over in inning number seven as Arquimedes Caminero came on for his second appearance in 2016. He did rather well pitching 1.2 innings giving up one hit while walking one and striking out two. Caminero got into a little trouble in the bottom of the eighth, so Tony Watson was called upon to get the final out of the eighth by getting Matt Carpenter to ground out to second base to end the inning.
In the ninth, Cory Luebke made his first appearance in a major league game since the 2012 season and all things considered pitched pretty well. He threw 0.2 inning giving up one hit and a walk while striking out one batter. Luebke made the Pirates roster as the final lefty and is looking to prove himself to the Pirates after dealing with elbow trouble and a staff infection that kept him out of major league baseball for the last couple of seasons.
As the game turned to a save situation, the Pirates called on the man who lead major league baseball in saves last season Mark Melancon. Melancon only had to get one out and did so successfully by getting Kolton Wang to ground out to David Freese to end the game. Melancon picked up his first save of the 2016 season in the victory.
After an off day tomorrow, the Pirates return to action on Friday as they travel to Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati to take on the Cincinnati Reds. The Reds will be pitching right hander Alfredo Simon who will be making his season debut. The Pirates will counter with Francisco Liriano (1-0 0.00). Liriano is coming off an Opening Day start against the Cardinals in which he struck out 10 batters in 6.0 innings of work. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m.
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