Battered Pirates collapse in 12th inning


Associated Press

MIAMI

It took six innings for the Pittsburgh Pirates to record their first hit and the Miami Marlins went seven innings without one until they got one to end the game.

Christian Yelich hit a walk-off double in the bottom of the 12th inning to lift the Marlins to a 4-3 victory over the Pirates on Thursday night to win the four-game series.

“Just looking for something good to hit and drive,” Yelich said. “I got a good pitch, found a gap, and Martin (Prado) was able to score.”

Yelich doubled to deep right-center field off A.J. Schugel (1-2) with two outs in the ninth to score Martin Prado from first without a throw home and tie the game at 3.

Pittsburgh had four players leave the game with injuries including Andrew McCutchen. Francisco Cervelli, David Freese and Jordy Mercer left after getting hit by pitches.

“It’s a team looking to find some identity on pitching end up not having good command,” Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said.

Cervelli said: “It was like the ER here. The doctors of the other team were very busy today. It was a crazy day, my friend.”

Nick Wittgren (1-0) pitched three scoreless innings in relief and struck out three to earn his first career victory.

“You have a lot of adrenaline when you go out there,” Wittgren said. “It starts kicking in a little bit and that kind of helps you not think too much out there. Overthinking will always get you in trouble so going out there was great and I just tried to keep my momentum going, stay in a groove, don’t slow anything down or speed it up, and just throw strikes.”

Yelich’s hit was the first for the Marlins since the fourth inning.

Ichiro Suzuki had two hits, scored a run, stole a base, and had two impressive defensive plays in center field for the Marlins. He has 2,965 career hits moving into sole possession of 31st on MLB’s all-time hit list.

Pittsburgh won the first game of the series 10-0 on Monday before the Marlins won the final three, 3-1, 3-2 and 4-3.

“It’s a nice feeling,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. “That’s a good club over there. They thumped us pretty good that first game and then Jose [Fernandez] kind of turned the tide and got it back in our court.”

John Jaso hit a game-tying single with two outs in the top of the ninth on a 3-2 pitch from Kyle Barraclough.

“We’ve always got guts,” Hurdle said. “I don’t expect anything different from these guys. And when it gets more challenging, it’s when they continue to show up. We fight, scratch and claw together. That effort has become a part of who we are.”

Marlins starter Wei-Yen Chen didn’t allow a hit until the seventh inning with the Marlins leading 3-0. Jung Ho Kang doubled to lead off the seventh breaking up Chen’s no-hit bid. Chen walked the next batter ending his night.

Both runners scored on a two-out, two-run double by Matt Joyce off Dustin McGowan to cut the Pirates’ deficit to 3-2.

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