PNC Park – Brandon Cumpton saved his best game of the year so far for the main stage as he went 7 innings of shutout ball in a Pirates 6 – 0 victory over the Cardinals to sweep the twi-night doubleheader and take a 1 ½ game lead in the NL Central.
Cumpton, along with minor league batter mate, Tony Sanchez, shut down the second best team in baseball over seven innings of three-hit ball. The only time the Cardinals had a chance to break onto the scoreboard was in the third when Jon Jay reached with a one out single and went to third two batters later when Allen Craig reached via a Pedro Alvarez error. They would not score, though, as Cumpton would get Yadier Molina to fly out to center to end the inning. “I really just attacked them with the fastball and pitched them in,” Said Cumpton. “Pitching in has kinda been my thing all year and I didn’t want to run away from that up here, so I just tried to force the issue and get ground balls.”
The Pirates got on the board first in the third inning when Jose Tabata reached on a David Freese error. He would reach third on a Josh Harrison single and score on a passed ball to make it 1 – 0. They would make it 4 – 0 in the fifth when Starling Marte led off the inning with a triple and scored on a Jordy Mercer RBI single. Andrew McCutchen would then come up and hit a ball deep to left which appeared to land in the glove of Matt Holliday at the wall, but the ball bounced off of his wrist and went into the crowd for a two run homer.
They would add on more insurance in the seventh when Cutch led the inning off with a single and scored on a Gaby Sanchez double. After a ground out by Pedro Alvarez, Sanchez would score on a Tony Sanchez sac fly. It was T. Sanchez’s first career RBI in the majors.
Sanchez was nervous, like many in their debut in the field, but Sanchez was helped by a Pitcher he had caught in AAA all season. “It couldn’t have been more ideal. I’ve caught all these guys in spring training, but it’s not a competitive atmosphere. You don’t have 40,000 people in the stands, you’re not in Pittsburgh for the first time, you’re not catching in the big leagues for the first time. To have somebody that I’m familiar with – we were on the same page the entire night, no shakes. It made it really easy for me and it was awesome. I mean, I had a lot of fun.”
Jeanmar Gomez would come in and quiet the Cardinal bats over the final two innings to close things out for the first place Pirates. With the win, the Buccos extend their NL Central lead to 1 ½ games and hold the best record in baseball once again.
Not a bad day for Clint Hurdles 56th birthday. “Yeah, it really was. You take the birthday and you move it aside. I’ve had a few of them and I’ve been on the field for most of them. Just really pleased with the effort, today.”
Final Score: Pirates 6, Cardinals 0
Starters Lines:
Cumpton (W, 1 – 1): 7 IN, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K’s. 87 Pitches (65 Strikes)
Lyons (L, 2 – 3): 6 IN, 8 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 5 K’s, 1 HP, 1 HR. 108 Pitches (69 Strikes)
These two will be back in action tomorrow at 7:05 for game 3 of 4 in this series.
Tomorrow’s Starters:
(LHP) Jeff Locke (PIT) 9 – 3, 2.15 ERA
(RHP) Adam Wainright (STL) 13 – 6, 2.51 ERA
Follow Travis for Pirates news and in-game updates on Twitter @TBerardi_OVA or @OVAthletics
(Photo Credit: Justin K. Aller/Getty Images)
