Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Late Charging Pirates Take 9-3 Win

Kevin Correia and Chris Capuano started off pretty solidly. The Bucs got a two-out infield single from McCutch, the Mets a leadoff blooper knock by Angel pagan, who Bucco pitchers can't seem to stop. McCutch is on; he made a great sliding grab on a Jay Bay ball to close the frame.

Matt Biaz lined a single to open the second; an out later Lyle Overbay grounded into a 4-6-3 DP. The Mets got a one-out walk from Ronny Paulino on a 3-2 pitch. Both sides went down in order in the third; so far one runner, Pagan, has reached second.

McCutch roped a one-out single to center in the fourth. Neil Walker rolled into a force, and two pitches later was nabbed stealing. Beltran led off with a single to right. After whiffing Bay, Daniel Murphy grounded a single to right to put runners at first and second. Paulino legged out an infield hit to second to load the sacks on a ball that looked like Walker should have had a play on. It would be costly.

KC caught Willie Harris looking, the second time he's K'ed. Ruben Tejada softly dropped a 3-2 pitch into short right, and plated a pair; the Mets were up 2-0.

Chris Snyder drew a one-out walk. Overbay went down on strikes, and Cedeno grounded out hard to third for the inning-ending force. Five innings, and a Buc has yet to get to second. Geez, that's even bad for a first date!

Pagan walked, the third leadoff hitter to reach against Correia in five innings. KC cleaned that up by picking him off. He got the next pair of Metropolitans routinely.

The Pirates again went down in order; the hardest hit ball was a liner off Josh Harrison's bat that Capuano speared in self defense. With one away, Murphy lined a slider into left for a knock. Paulino rapped the next pitch to short, and a quick 6-4-3 DP later, the inning was over.

McCutch opened with his third knock of the night, an infield single (his second) to the right side. Walker bunted for a base hit to set up Diaz. He did, in a way, singling on a swinging bunt. Not a ball out of the infield, yet the bases are juiced.

Capuano fed Snyder back to back changeups, he poked the second to short for yet another infield knock when it was ruled the thirdbaseman didn't have his foot on the bag for the force. Speed kills, hey?

Overbay got a semi-legitimate hit, a liner to right that glanced off Pagan's leather, and the score was tied with the bases drunk and still nobody away. Capuano was pulled, mercifully, before he could take a bat to his defense. Pedro Beato took the ball.

He put Cedeno down swinging at sliders, the last off the dish. Xavier Paul pinch hit, and got a 2-1 heater down the middle, knocking it into right for another single and run. Funny, the Pirates got all those infield hits, yet can only move station-to-station on outfield balls.

Tabata bounced one to third to score another run when the Mets couldn't turn the around-the-horn DP, thanks largely to a good hard slide by the X-Man. Yet another run came around when Harrison singled - another infield knock to short. McCutch went down swinging on three pitches, but the Bucco sprinters had raced to a 5-2 lead. It was payback for game one by the baseball gods, we suppose, or maybe an old Rod Serling script.

Correia went six innings, giving up two runs on six hits with two walks and four K's, tossing 86 pitches. Chris Resop came in, and Brandon Wood went to third as a defensive sub again. Paul stayed in the game, replacing Diaz in right. They didn't break a sweat; the Mets went down in order as Resop collected a pair of punch-outs.

Walker spoiled a couple of Beato pitches, and led off with an eight pitch walk. He fell behind Wood 3-1, gave him a slider tight, and it was ripped into left for a double, scoring Walker. The Mets asked the ump if he was batting out-of-order; all of Hurdle's changes confused them, too.

Beato drilled Snyder with the next pitch, and that brought on Michael O'Connor. Overbay greeted him with an RBI knock to right. Cedeno walked on four pitches, none in the same zip code as the strike zone. Loaded again with no outs.

Paul roped a 2-0 pitch into right for a RBI single. The Mets went to the pen again, this time choosing Dale Thayer. With the infield in, Tabata hit into a third-to-home force. garrett Jones grabbed a stick, and smacked a deep fly to center to bring home Cedeno. It was now 9-2 Buccos, and if Elvis was in Citi Field tonight, he left the building this frame.

Daniel McCutchen climbed the hill in the eighth. After a fly-out, Justin Turner took a belt high heater long into left center for his second homer of the season. Beltran doubled to right. D-Mac K'ed Bay.

Danny Moskos came in to face lefty Murphy, more as a feeling-out move than strategic. He passed the test, sorta, getting Murphy to line out to deep right center, saved by a nice diving catch by Paul.

Walker opened the ninth with a shot to center for a base hit. Wood rolled into a forceout. Snyder lined one toward the middle; it was snagged by Turner and Wood was doubled off first. Jose Ascanio came on to hopefully finish the game out.

He K'ed the first batter looking, then gave up a line knock to right by Willie Harris. Tejada followed with a single to left off Wood's glove. JA got the next pair, and the Bucs took home their second win against the Mets.

Give the sticks credit tonight; they scored nine runs on 14 hits (and only one went for extra bases) while going 7-for-12 with RISP.

Paul Maholm faces Mike Pelfrey tomorrow afternoon.

-- Kevin Correia's outing gave him eight wins, the first guy to reach that mark in the show this season. He also extended the Pirate starting pitcher's streak to 13 straight games without giving up more than two earned runs. That's the longest string since 1968, when the Pirate rotation rolled up 14 straight games yielding 2ER<.

-- McCutch had three hits. Diaz, Walker, Overbay and Paul each had two knocks.

-- The Pirates equaled 2010's road win mark by taking their 17th victory away from PNC Park tonight; that's all they won last season.

-- After winning just once in two dozen games after falling behind after six innings, the Bucs have now taken two in a row with late rallies. The two victories were also the team's first wins at Citi Field.

No comments: