PNC Park – Gerrit Cole pitched six innings of five hit, two run ball and the top of the Pirates order continued to remain hot as the Pirates defeated the Diamondbacks 6 – 2 on Friday night extending their lead over Arizona to 9 1/2 games and their NL Central lead over the Cardinals to three.
Cole went through the Arizona lineup once easily before experiencing trouble in the fourth. He would pitch around Paul Goldschmidt to start the inning before walking Aaron Hill. A wild pitch would then move the two to second and third and Martin Prado would knock Goldschmidt in with a single. A.J. Pollock would follow a Wil Nieves strikeout with an RBI single. Cole would then retire the next seven out of eight batters before leaving after the sixth. “The offense picked me up (tonight). I had an opportunity to get a shutdown inning there early and I pretty much blew that one, so I was fortunate we were able to score two (more) runs and I wasn’t going to make the same mistake going out there in the sixth. ”
The Pirates would get plenty of offense for Cole as the top of the order produced two runs in the third and fifth innings. Neil Walker would walk with one out in the third, advance to third on a Cutch double and score on a Pedro Alvarez 2 RBI single. Cutch would score on the play with a slide that looked like a reversal of 1992.
They would get two more in the fifth when Starling Marte would get a one out single. He would then score on a hit-and-run RBI double by Walker. Walker would then cross the plate on a Cutch single.
Jose Tabata would put the game out of reach in the eighth by following a Gaby Sanchez two out double with a fly ball that cleared the Clemente seats for his fourth homer of the season to end the scoring. After it was all said and done, seven of nine starters had hits. It was a welcome sight for Clint Hurdle. ” They continue to work hard to get batter and they understand those at-bats. They understood that they need to take care of business and we were able to do that in very efficient fashion tonight from the top of the lineup to the bottom.”
The Shark Tank would take care of things as Jeanmar Gomez pitched a perfect seventh and eighth innings while striking out three. Mark Melancon would then come in and pitch a perfect ninth to close things out and extend the Pirates playoff lead over the Diamondbacks to 9 1/2 games.
Final Score: Pirates 6, Diamondbacks 2
Starters Lines:
Cole (W, 6 – 5): 6 IN, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 K’s, 1 WP. 98 Pitches (63 Strikes)
McCarthy (L, 2 – 7): 5 2/3 IN, 7 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 5 K’s. 100 Pitches (68 Strikes)
These two will be back at it tomorrow in front of a Baseball Night in America audience at 4:05.
Tomorrow’s Starters:
(LHP) Jeff Locke (PIT): 9 – 3, 2.43 ERA
(RHP) Trevor Cahill (ARI): 3 – 10, 4.66 ERA
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(Photo Credit: Justin K. Aller/Getty Images)
