Saturday, April 18, 2015
Associated Press
PITTSBURGH
The Pittsburgh Pirates flailed helplessly at Jimmy Nelson’s curveball last weekend, striking out nine times in a lopsided loss in Milwaukee.
With a rematch looming Friday, manager Clint Hurdle ordered his players to spend a little more time in the batting cage while the pitching machine tried to replicate Nelson’s sweeping breaking ball.
“Today was a day we were out there early in the afternoon,” Hurdle said. “It gave us a better idea of what we would be getting.”
Looked like it.
Gregory Polanco went 3 for 4, Starling Marte added two hits — including a long two-run homer off Jonathan Broxton in the eighth — and Pittsburgh rolled to a 6-3 win. The Pirates came in with the lowest team batting average in the National League (.207) but pounded out 11 hits and even managed their first walks since last Saturday.
“We did a better job situationally,” Hurdle said. “We had some two-out hits as well. It was a good night to get some momentum on that side of the ball.”
The Pirates have sputtered during the opening 10 days of the season as the offense that was supposed to be a strength has slouched out of the gate. Pittsburgh came in with the second-worst team batting average in the majors and managed just five hits total in back-to-back shutout losses to Detroit.
Hurdle shuffled the lineup a bit, moving Andrew McCutchen from third to cleanup. McCutchen drove in a run on a groundout in the fourth to end a 22-inning scoreless streak.
But the real damage off Nelson (1-1) came in the fifth. Marte led off with an infield single, stole second then scored on Sean Rodriguez base hit. Rodriguez followed suit, swiping second and then scoring on two-out single to left by Josh Harrison to give Pittsburgh a 3-1 lead that Vance Worley (1-1) and four relievers would not relinquish.
Worley, who was tagged for six runs by the Brewers in his last start, gave up just two in six effective innings. He struck out six, walked four and wriggled out of a two-on, one-out jam in the fifth, when Ryan Braun hit into an inning-ending double play.
UP NEXT
Pirates: Second baseman Neil Walker returns to the starting lineup today. He was inserted as a pinch hitter on Friday while Rodriguez got the nod in his place, a planned move Hurdle said was designed to give Walker a little extra rest. Walker is a career .306 hitter against Lohse, his best average against any pitcher he’s faced more than 30 times. Jeff Locke (1-0, 3.00) starts for the Pirates.