Baseball is a game of emotions and with the Pirates losing the first three games of the series against the Dodgers, one would think that if there would be a team to boil over, it would be the Bucs. However with three ejections and almost a fourth, the Dodgers lost their cool and more importantly, lost the ballgame to the Pirates on Thursday afternoon.
Garrett Jones set the tone for the Pirates in the first inning as he hit his 18th home run of the season over the Clemente Wall to give the Pirates an early 3-0 lead. It was the second inning however, that things got interesting.
Following his strikeout to end the first inning, Matt Kemp was chirping at home plate umpire Angel Campos from the Dodgers dugout as Andre Ethier led off the second inning. Dodgers skipper Don Mattingly ran onto the field followed shortly after by Kemp. Kemp went crazy and had to be restrained by teammate Shane Victorino and Mattingly. After Kemp got the hook, Mattingly wasn’t far behind.
According to Kemp, the umpire misunderstood what he said.
“Campos told me if I say one more thing about the zone, then I’m out of here,” Kemp said. “When Andre was up, I said, ‘Let’s go Dre’ and Campos misunderstood me I guess.”
A.J Burnett has played the role of stopper all year for the Pirates and with an early 3-0 lead, it looked like he was well on his way again. James Loney however, connected for a home run in the second inning and Hanley Ramirez made the score 4-3 in the fourth inning with a three-run home run of his own.
Ramirez, who places his hands over his eyes in the shape of goggles as if to say “can you see me?” flashed the sign toward Burnett following his home run.
“I thought he did something when he crossed second base,” Burnett said. “If you’re going to hit a home run, act like you hit one before. Loney hit one and was very professional about it. I thought he did something at second base, I could be wrong and it was in the heat of the moment.”
After Clint Barmes tied the game up with his first triple since 2009 scoring Rod Barajas from first base in an entertaining trip around the bases that Burnett said “took him forever,” Jones liked his first three-run shot so much, he did it again in the fifth inning for his 19th of the year and his fifth career multi-homer game to earn his second career curtain call.
“We needed to get back on track and get a win today,” Jones said. “I got some pitches over the plate and put the good part of the bat on it. It was the second (curtain call) of my career. That’s always something special to get.”
Pirates manager Clint Hurdle was happy with the way Jones has been protecting McCutchen all year, especially today.
“The big guy in the middle, Jones, that was a couple exclamation points on the offensive side of the ball today,” Hurdle said. “He’s really stayed pressing forward and the numbers are adding up. He’s become the one guy that can cover for Andrew behind him on a pretty regular basis.”
Pedro Alvarez was locked in on the day going 3-4 including a big fly two batters after Jones in the fifth and wound up just a triple shy of the cycle, but struggled on defense committing two errors.
“Petey (Pedro) puts the work in,” Hurdle said. “The other side of the ball was a little challenging for him today, but he continues to separate the ball. He doesn’t take his bat out there. Some plays are happening that he’s just not making. Today with the bat, I think we saw a better approach. Firing early, staying on some pitches, for him to drive the ball to centerfield is a good sign.”
Following the home run, the Dodgers pulled their starter Joe Blanton from the game. As Blanton was walking off of the field, he and Campos had a stare down when Blanton charged toward the umpire at home plate.
Despite already being removed from the game, Campos ejected Blanton as well.
“It was gritty. It was gritty all over the place. There’s no doubt about that,” Hurdle said.
Remembering what Ramirez did to him following his home run in the fourth inning, Burnett struck out Ramirez to end the sixth. Following the strikeout, Ramirez flipped his bat down in the batter’s box and was barking at Campos. As Burnett walked off the field, he looked at Ramirez as said, “Sit the f–k down.”
“I was excited to get him out,” Burnett said. “Anytime someone clicks one off of you, you want to get him out the next time up. He drove one pretty far and I was able to get him out so I was pretty fired up.”
Cooler heads soon prevailed and Barmes would drive in two more insurance runs with his second base hit of the day.
Although it’s just August 16, the Pirates needed to win this game and avoid the sweep before heading on the road. Despite giving up six runs and extending the quality start-less streak to eight games, Burnett once again put a stop to the losing with the win.
“It was a grind today and it shows you the fight in this clubhouse,” Burnett said. “I gave up a few here and there, but the guys kept battling and Jonesy had a great day at the plate. Watson came in and picked me up to shut the door.”
The Pirates will travel to St. Louis to take on the idle Cardinals who now sit a game back of the Pirates in the division and wild card race.
“Now we have some momentum to carry us to St. Louis and win one game at a time,” Burnett said. “That’s all that matters is one game at a time.”
James McDonald (10-5, 3.77 ERA), who has struggled mightily since the All-Star break with an 8.71 ERA, will look to return to form as he’ll take on Jake Westbrook (12-8, 3.62 ERA) in the first game of the three game set.
Photo Credits: Associated Press
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