Some late inning runs propelled the Pirates past the Detroit Tigers. The Pirates handed Max Scherzer his first loss of the season. Kevin Correia picked up his first home win on the year.
After giving up a one out single in the first, Correia retired the next nine Detroit hitters. Then he hit a snag in the fourth. Three straight doubles from Andy Dirks, Miguel Cabrera and Brennan Boesch gave the Tigers a 2-0 lead.
Scherzer seemed to be in control at that point. After putting two on in the second, he set down the next ten Pirate hitters while whiffing five out of six in one stretch. But the Pirates took the lead in the sixth. Andrew McCutchen and Jose Tabata started with singles. Garrett Jones drilled a liner into the corner in right that bounced over the wall in foul territory for a ground rule double. Neil Walker delivered a sac fly that tied the game. Jones smartly moved to third on the out. Lyle Overbay’s fly ball scored Jones with the go ahead run. After Ryan Doumit singled, Ryan Perry relieved Scherzer to get the final out of the inning.
Jose Veras relieved Correia with two on and two out in the top of the seventh. He got Austin Jackson to fly out deep to center to McCutchen to end the threat.
Clinging to a one run lead in the bottom of the seventh, Veras was allowed to hit for himself. It was his first career plate appearance. Perry walked him on four pitches. McCutchen and Tabata followed with singles to load the bases. Daniel Schlereth entered. Perry exited. Matt Diaz pinch hit for Jones and drilled a clutch two run single to extend the lead to 5-2. After Walker’s fly ball moved Tabata to third, Overbay struck out. When the ball got away from Alex Avila, Diaz attempted to move to second. He was caught in a run down and eventually was tagged out. But Tabata was able to scurry home before the third out was recorded.
Joe Beimel was on to start the ninth with a four run lead. After he allowed the first two men to reach, Joel Hanrahan was summoned. He gave up a single to Brandon Inge to load the bases. But he whiffed Ryan Raburn and induced a game ending double play from Jackson. Game over.
Correia allowed both runs in 6-2/3 innings. He walked none and struck out four. He gave up seven hits. Scherzer was charged with three runs in 5-2/3. He struck out seven and gave up seven hits. Hanrahan got his 13th save.
The Good
Correia was solid.
The offense came through with twelve hits.
A four game winning streak.
McCutchen had three hits. Tabata, Doumit and Ronny Cedeno each had two knocks.
The Bad
Bucs whiffed ten times.
Beimel danced into danger in the ninth.
The Rest
It was a sell out crowd on Neil Walker bobblehead night. Among those in attendance were my brother and I and a couple of large people who were likely Steelers. I didn’t recognize who they were.
The sellout crowd created problems in concessions. They were woefully understaffed. My brother was gone for six outs when merely trying to purchase a soft drink. When he finally got it, it was flat. Nice!
Correia had never faced Detroit before tonight’s game. Scherzer is now 1-1 against Pittsburgh.
The ‘It’s time to shoot some hot dogs’ jingle has been replaced by a ‘Glee’ knockoff about hot dogs. It’s good. I miss the old jingle, though.
I’m not a fan of the over the top entry music montage for Joel Hanrahan. The guy has less than 40 career saves. It isn’t like he’s Mo Rivera or something.
Can we please, please, please get the entire Pirates marketing staff fired? I come over to Pittsburgh every year and every year I have a difficult time finding a new item of clothing to buy. How about a jersey t-shirt of Dave Parker or Al Oliver or Dock Ellis or John Candelaria or Manny Sanguillen? It’s ridiculous how poorly this ball club tries to tie into its past – especially given that the recent history has been so horrible.
We went to the 1971 reunion baseball card show on the campus of Robert Morris. I’m still 12. I could’ve stayed all day. But we also wanted to come to the game. I was amazed the lack of decent 8×10 photos of Bucs from the 1970s-1990s. I’m trying to fill a wall in my office with framed color pictures (not a huge autograph guy) and I figured I could pick up a half dozen today. I bought exactly zero. Guess I will look on ebay.
Before heading into the park, we stopped off at Giovanni’s right next to the Renaissance Hotel. Love their pizza. Two slices and we were good to go.
