Bucs Triple Way To 8-1 Win

Nice start out of the gates for the Bucs. Neil Walker got ahead 3-1, was served a heater by Tyson Ross, and crushed it over the fence in right center to give the Pirates a quick 1-0 lead. With two down, Pedro reached on 2B Jedd Gyorko's throwing error; Russ Martin cashed him in with an opposite field double to right that got stuck in the bottom of the RF wall (there's no Petco ground rule for that particular incident, so Will Venable had to dig the ball out). AJ worked a 1-2-3 frame to start his outing.

Pedro tripled in The Kid, who was aboard after being nicked in the leg with a pitch, in the third with an opposite field shot to left center. Burnett worked out of his only jam in the bottom half, getting Yonder Alonso swinging at a curve with two down and the sacks jammed after an error, infield single and walk. AJ made his only mistake in the next frame when he left a fastball up that Jedd Gyorko roped into the left-field seats. The game went quietly along from that point until the seventh.


It looked like SD had worked out of a jam when Neil Walker's one-out grounder caught Jordy Mercer at the plate. But Cutch's two-out, two-run triple scored AJ, who had walked (and who the Padres tried to pull the ol' hidden ball trick on, lol!) plus Walker. Two free passes later, Josh Harrison's three-run triple on an 0-2 pitch cleared the bases and was the nail-in-the-coffin blow. Both were opposite way drives to the right-center gap, and there's nothing to charge up an offense like five two-out runs.

AJ worked seven, giving up a run on four hits and a walk, with seven K. He tossed 112 pitches, and 75 were strikes, a key for Burnett. Vin Mazzaro and Jared Hughes closed the contest, each giving up a hit in an inning's work.

The Bucs showed what they're capable of at the dish when they get into good counts and go the opposite way. That bodes well for the future if they can continue that approach instead of their dead-pull ways. The Pirates have jumped two-up in what could have been a trap series for them, and West Coast trip couldn't get off on a better foot. Gerrit Cole takes on Ian Kennedy as the Pirtaes look for the sweep tonight.

• Starling Marte was a late scratch from the lineup last night; his right hand, stepped on a couple of days ago, was apparently still bothering him.
• The Pirates stretched their lead in the NL Central to two games over the Cards and 3-1⁄2 games over the Reds.
• There were a lot of reps from the Pirate nation in San Diego last night. AJ got a nice ovation and Terrible Towels were a'twirling.
• Travis Snider went 1-for-3 at Altoona in his second rehab game.
• RHP Stolmy Pimentel went seven shutout innings for Indy, giving up four hits with a walk and six K in a 3-2 loss last night. He'll be one of the guys you'll see in September.
• The Nats claimed David DeJesus from Chicago and promptly waived him. Seems odd; they must have been blocking him from reaching some other team.