Pirates trounce LA in game one

Associated Press

PITTSBURGH

Garrett Jones endured 12 patience-trying seasons in organized baseball waiting to play on a major league opening day. The Dodgers only wish he had waited one more year.

Jones homered in his first two at-bats, pinch-hitter Ryan Church doubled home three runs and the Pittsburgh Pirates started the new season the way they wound down 2009 by roughing up Los Angeles 11-5 on Monday.

The Pirates, coming off a record-setting 17th consecutive losing season with the majors’ lowest payroll, won on opening day for the fourth season in a row as Ryan Doumit added a three-run homer in the eighth. Doumit also doubled and scored twice.

Jones, the second major leaguer to hit 20-plus homers after not hitting one until at least July 1, is constantly asked if his 21 homers over half the 2009 season as a 28-year-old rookie were an anomaly. His first two at-bats suggest they weren’t.

“It was awesome,” said Jones, who couldn’t play his way onto the Twins’ or Braves’ roster before signing with Pittsburgh as a minor league free agent.

Jones’ two-run drive estimated at 456 feet bounced into the Allegheny River beyond the right-field stands following Akinori Iwamura’s leadoff walk in the first. Jones followed that with an opposite-field shot off Vicente Padilla that found the front row of left-field stands, putting Pittsburgh up 3-2.

“It’s only one game, but it feels good,” Jones said. “It’s a long season and there’s a lot of games left, but I’m going to try to keep the same approach.”

The Pirates were forced to yank starter Zach Duke in the fifth after only 79 pitches because they are batting the pitcher eighth, and Duke was due up with a run in and the bases loaded. Duke (1-0) gave up two runs on seven hits.

Church, in his first at-bat with Pittsburgh, made the strategy pay off by hitting a bases-clearing double to right off reliever Ramon Ortiz. Ronny Cedeno, batting ninth, finished off the five-run inning with an RBI single.

Church hinted that the Pirates are motivated by talk that this could be one of their worst teams in years — their payroll is about $34 million, or nearly the same as their 1992 team.

“We had a team dinner and got a chance to air some things out, we’re focused and not paying too much attention to all that stuff that’s outside and we can’t control,” Church said. “I think a lot of guys on this team have heart and a lot of pride in what we’re doing, and you don’t want to embarrass yourself, so give it everything you got.”