The Pittsburgh Pirates were able to outlast the Colorado Rockies last night in 12 innings to pick up a 9-8 victory. Jordy Mercer drove in the game winning run with an RBI double to clinch the victory for the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Coors Field in Colorado is known to host many offensive showdowns. Well, in the last two games of this four game series that has held very true. Last night it took 12 innings to find a winner, but in the end, Jordy Mercer drove in the game winning run with a two-out RBI double to give the Pirates a 9-8 victory. With the win, the Pirates have now taken the first three games of this four game series.
Jon Niese started the game for Pittsburgh and pitched a lot better than what his final line says. In total he pitched 5.0 innings giving up five runs on 10 hits while walking two and striking out five. However, he cruised through the first three innings of his start and was able to locate the ball effectively.
Niese has been arguably the most consistent pitcher in the Pirates rotation. Coming over in the trade that sent Neil Walker to the New York Mets, Niese has gone out in every start and left the Pirates with a good chance to win the baseball game. He has been getting good offensive support as well as the team scored him seven runs tonight and eight runs his last time out. Don't let the high ERA fool you, Niese has had a very good start to the 2016 season.
The Pirates started the scoring in the top of the second after singles by Francisco Cervelli and Josh Harrison gave the Pirates first and third with only one out. Then Mercer, the man who ended the scoring, drove the in the first run of the ball game on a fielder's choice play that got Harrison thrown out at second and allowed Cervelli to score giving the Pirates a 1-0 lead. The Rockies would challenge the slide at second base, but it proved unsuccessful as the run still counted.
The Pirates would add to their lead in the top of the third when they put a three spot up on the Rockies. The inning started on singles by John Jaso and Andrew McCutchen to set the Pirates up with runners at first and third with no outs. Then David Freese singled to score Jaso giving the Pirates a 2-0 lead. The Pirates would add two more in the inning on a Gregory Polanco sacrifice fly and a Harrison RBI single to give the Pirates a 4-0 lead.
In the top of the fourth, the Pirates thought they has put the game out of reach for good. A single by Niese followed by a popout and a strikeout gave the Pirates a runner at first with two outs. Then Freese drove in his second run of the ball game with a double that scored Niese and gave the Pirates a 5-0 lead. Starling Marte hit an infield single to give the Pirates first and third with two outs before Francisco Cervelli hit a two-RBI double to give the Pirates a 7-0 lead.
Many people thought the game was out of reach, but if we learned anything in this series no lead is safe in Colorado. The Rockies put together a big fourth inning against Niese putting up a four spot. Niese was bitten by the home run bug as both Trevor Story and Nolan Arenado hit home runs to cut the deficit to 7-2. Then Mark Reynolds doubled and Ryan Raburn tripled on a ball that almost left the yard to cut the lead to 7-3. An RBI single by DJ LeMahieu finished the scoring for the Rockies and left the score at 7-4 Pirates.
Niese had a painless bottom of the fifth, but things started getting to him again in the sixth. He allowed three straight singles to start the inning by Raburn, Nick Hundley, and LeMahieu to load the bases with one out. At this point, manager Clint Hurdle pulled Niese in favor of right handed pitcher Ryan Vogelsong.
Vogelsong came in and worked masterfully only allowing one run in the inning. Mercer made a very heads-up play throwing out Hundley at third base on a ground ball that was ticketed for centerfield. However, Raburn scored on the play to cut the deficit to 7-5. Vogelsong finished the inning by getting Gerrardo Parra to line out and Story to strikeout.
The work by Vogelsong in that sixth inning saved the game for the Pirates. If he had come in and let all of those runners score, we would be talking about a Pirates loss rather than a Pirates win. Vogelsong has been a very valuable piece for the Pirates this season stepping up and performing in whatever situation the Pirates ask him to.
The Pirates added another run on a Polanco solo home run in the top of the seventh to give the Pirates an 8-5 lead. Then the unusual happened as both Neftali Feliz and Tony Watson struggled on the evening. Feliz gave up a two-run home run to Mark Reynolds to cut the lead to 8-7 in the bottom of the seventh. Watson came into relieve Feliz in the seventh and was able to get out of it.
However, Watson ran into his own problems in the eighth inning as he gave up the game tying home run to Parra and the game was all tied up at eight. Watson did work his way out of that eighth inning by striking out Arenado to end the inning.
In extra innings Kyle Lobstein came in and did what he has done all season and was an effective long relief man for the Pirates. He threw 3.0 innings giving up no runs on three hits and striking out two. Lobstein has also been a great pickup for the Pirates and has proved very effective out of the bullpen this season.
The final run was scored by the Pirates in the top of the twelfth inning. A Polanco walk set up the Pirates with a runner on second and two outs. The Mercer stepped up and cracked a ball into the right field gap for the game winning RBI double giving the Pirates a 9-8 lead. Mark Melancon came in and collected his fifth save of the year securing the victory for the Pirates.
The win gives the Pirates the chance to sweep the series this afternoon as they play game four of the four game series. The Rockies will send Tyler Chatwood (2-2 3.47) to the mound. Last time out, Chatwood struggled against the Los Angeles Dodgers giving up three runs in just 4.0 innings of work. The Pirates will counter with former Rockie Juan Nicasio (2-2 4.50). Last time out Nicasio pitched well but did not go deep giving up two runs in 5.0 innings of work. First pitch for this afternoons game is scheduled for 3:10 p.m.
No comments:
Post a Comment