Pirates support Wells

Salomon Torres and Jose Mesa preserved a late lead against Philadelphia in a 2-1 victory.
By TOM WILLIAMS
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
PITTSBURGH -- With a lineup lacking in power and loaded with inexperience, the Pittsburgh Pirates can't afford to waste a strong pitching performance.
Before 35,702 fans Monday at PNC Park, the Pirates capitalized on sterling efforts by Kip Wells, Salomon Torres and Jose Mesa to defeat the Philadelphia Phillies, 2-1.
"Kip's the kind of pitcher that if you don't get to him early, he can dominate," said Pirates manager Lloyd McClendon after Wells tossed six shutout innings in his first opening day start.
"This was a good, old-fashioned ball game," McClendon said. "We'll take the low-scoring games because we believe we have a good chance to win late."
That's where Torres and Mesa come in.
Phillies limited
With Pittsburgh ahead 2-0, Torres hit Placido Polanco with a pitch with two outs in the seventh inning, but struck out Jim Thome on a 1-2 pitch to end the threat.
The Phillies used two sacrifices to produce their run in the eighth inning, but Torres ended the rally by getting David Bell to ground out.
In the ninth inning, Mesa retired pinch-hitter Jason Michaels, Marlon Byrd and Polanco on fly balls for his 250th career save.
"That was nice for Mesa," McClendon said. "The adrenaline had to be flowing because it was against his former team."
Mesa, the Indians closer from 1992-98, saved 111 games for the Phillies from 2001-03 before being released after a 5-7 season and an earned-run average of 6.52.
The 38-year-old closer denied feeling anything special.
"It was nothing different than any other day -- I went out there in the ninth inning and did my job," Mesa said.
Escape route
The 26-year-old Wells escaped several jams, throwing 50 pitches in the first two innings.
Philadelphia's best threat against him came in the sixth inning when Pat Burrell and Bobby Abreu led off with back-to-back singles.
Wells responded by striking out Mike Lieberthal and Jimmy Rollins and then catching Bell looking on a 3-2 pitch.
"The previous inning we had scored a run, so it's that much more important for us to go out there and put up a zero," Wells said. "That's been preached to me throughout my career.
"They got two quick hits, so I wasn't out there trying to strike out the side," Wells said. "I would have been happy with a double play and a popout."
Jack Wilson's leadoff single in the fifth inning led to the Pirates' first run. Wells' sacrifice bunt advanced Wilson to second, from where he scored easily on Tike Redman's double down the right-field line.
An inning later, Craig Wilson hit Kevin Millwood's 3-2 pitch into the center-field bleachers for a 2-0 lead.
"[Wilson's] home run was a pretty good at-bat," McClendon said. "He just missed a home run on the pitch before and he hit another slider."
Wilson said he was looking for a fastball but "wasn't surprised, not after what he threw me in my other at-bats. He threw a slider and left it a little bit up, and I put a good swing on it."
Avoiding a shutout
The Phillies used two sacrifices to produce their first run. After Burrell led off the eighth inning with his third single of the game, Abreu walked.
Lieberthal bunted to Torres and was thrown out at first after third baseman Chris Stynes slipped and was unable to cover third. Rollins popped out to shallow center field to score Burrell.
"Torres was outstanding," McClendon said. "If Stynes hadn't slipped, we might have gotten out of that with no runs."
williams@vindy.com