Maholm and bullpen lead Bucs past Boston

Associated Press

PITTSBURGH

David Ortiz walked to the plate representing the go-ahead run in the eighth inning, and the thousands of Boston Red Sox fans who crammed PNC Park on Friday night waited for Big Papi to send the ball over the right-field wall and into the Allegheny River.

Mother Nature and Pittsburgh reliever Jose Veras had other ideas.

A sudden — and very brief — downpour forced Ortiz to constantly wipe off the top of his batting helmet and Veras made Ortiz flip his bat in frustration after meekly grounding out to shortstop to help the Pirates to a 3-1 win. It provided Pittsburgh with a signature moment in a season quickly growing full of them.

“What’s wrong with Mother Nature?” Ortiz said. “I just walk up to the plate and it starts pouring. What’s up with that?”

Ortiz was joking. He knows Veras and the rest of Pittsburgh’s bullpen had more to do with Boston’s third straight loss than some rain drops.

“I thought I put a good swing on it,” Ortiz said.

Veras made an even better pitch, the two runners stranded representing the last of the 11 the Red Sox left on base as Pittsburgh (38-37) crept back above .500.

“There’s a time when you’ve got to make a decision to face a guy like David Ortiz,” Veras said. “You’ve got to know what he does. He’s a great hitter power-wise, so you’ve got to have a plan for those guys ... you’ve got to make quality pitches to that guy so that you don’t pay for it.”

Jose Tabata and Lyle Overbay each had two hits and an RBI for the Pirates and Paul Maholm (4-8) beat an American League team for the first time in nearly two years by surviving 51/3 eventful innings.

Joel Hanrahan worked a perfect the ninth to pick up his 21st save in as many chances, his three easy outs capping an effective performance from five Pittsburgh’s relievers, who made a slim lead stand up by shutting down baseball’s best offense over the final 32/3 innings.

“We had some work to do once Paul left the game, and we were able to match up well to get the guys in to face the guys that we felt that we might have had an advantage,” Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle said. “We made the good pitches when we needed to.”

Boston starter Jon Lester (9-4) pitched six solid innings but failed to become the AL’s first 10-game winner, giving up three runs, two earned.

“I threw the ball pretty well, kept the ball down,” Lester said. “Other than two hits tonight, nothing else was squared up.”