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Pirates' slide continues
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Photo
Los Angeles Dodgers' James Loney, left, scores on a wild pitch by Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Jason Grilli, right, during the seventh inning of a baseball game in Pittsburgh Thursday, Sept. 1, 2011. The Dodgers won 6-4. (AP Photo/Gene Puskar)
Associated Press
PITTSBURGH
Clint Hurdle thought Dana Eveland pitched well Thursday. He also thought his team helped the journeyman left-hander.
Alex Presley hit a two-run homer in the ninth inning, but the Pittsburgh Pirates’ rally fizzled in a 6-4 loss to Eveland and the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Eveland (1-0) allowed one run and six hits over eight innings in his first major league game since he pitched 22/3 innings for Pittsburgh at Texas on June 23, 2010. He was promoted from Albuquerque earlier Thursday.
Eveland struck out three, walked none and retired 11 in a row after giving up consecutive singles to start the second inning.
The Pirates have lost five straight games, managing just 14 runs in that span, and manager Clint Hurdle only begrudgingly acknowledged Eveland’s performance.
“You give a major league pitcher credit whenever he doesn’t let runs cross the plate but we need to take a better approach,” he said. “We couldn’t get the big hit when we needed it. We’ve got to learn how to fight. Guys are cutting us up and we’re making it too easy for them.”
Eveland left the Pirates’ organization as a free agent after finishing last season at Triple-A Indianapolis and signed a minor league contract with Los Angeles. He was invited to spring training but his chances of making the Dodgers ended when he strained a hamstring during the first workout.
Eveland, who has a 17-22 career record in 96 major league games, was 12-8 with a 4.38 ERA in 25 starts with Albuquerque when he was promoted.
“I took it as a challenge,” Eveland said of going back to Triple-A this season. “I knew I needed to get it right, get back to where I was a couple of years ago. I won some games early for Toronto last year, so I knew I could still win. In fact, I know I’m better than I was last year.”
Ryan Doumit had three hits for the Pirates, who have dropped seven of eight overall. Chase d’Arnaud went 2 for 3.
Andrew McCutchen followed Presley’s second homer with a walk and moved to third on Doumit’s base hit. Neil Walker hit a sacrifice fly for the first out of the inning, but Kenley Jansen struck out Josh Harrison and Brandon Wood for his third save in four opportunities.
Rookie Dee Gordon hit a two-run double and Aaron Miles had a two-run single for Los Angeles, which has won four straight and nine of 10.
Brad Lincoln (1-1) allowed three runs — all in the first — and six hits in six innings for Pittsburgh.
Lincoln was happy with the way he finished but not with how he started.
“I kept us in the game, which is my job, but I also made it tough on the team,” Lincoln said. “It’s tough to climb back from an early hole like that.”