In the off-season for the Pirates, the two biggest newsmakers were the acquisition of A.J. Burnett from the Yankees and whether or not Pedro Alvarez could go back to the signs that he showed he had his rookie year. Tonight, the two came together and helped lead the Pirates to their first division win of the year 2-0 over the St. Louis Cardinals.
In a decision that was made at the last minute, Pirates Manager Clint Hurdle elected to have Burnett skip his final rehab start in Altoona, and announced him as the starter for the Saturday night contest, replacing Kevin Correia. Correia was experiencing pain in his left side, and Jared Hughes was assigned to Triple-A Indianapolis to make room for Burnett.
Burnett pitched seven strong innings, but his first impression on Pirates fans wasn’t the best. He surrendered two walks and a hit to the first three St. Louis batters before working his way out of the bases-loaded jam.
“It was a little nerve wrecking in the first,” Burnett said. “I was a little anxious to go out there and pitch and it showed the first couple batters. You just keep telling yourself one pitch at a time and you’re one pitch away from getting out of there.”
Hurdle was satisfied with the effort from his starting pitcher.
“It’s absolutely what we were looking for out of A.J. (Burnett) and the reason he’s here,” Hurdle said. “We’re going to give him every opportunity to paint his own picture while he’s here.”
Burnett ended up striking out seven over his seven innings of work, and got ahead of the count on 20 of the 25 batters he faced on 76 pitches (he threw 24 in the first inning). The biggest strikeouts came in the first inning as he struck out Carlos Beltran and David Freese before Yadier Molina would line out to Clint Barmes who made a leaping catch at shortstop.
“It just goes to show it doesn’t matter how old you are, this is his opening day,” Hurdle said. “It was fun to watch him compete. I’m not sure whether Barmes, A.J. or Ray Searage jumped higher for that catch in the first inning. It’s always great to see grown men act like kids.”
On the offensive side, Andrew McCutchen and Alvarez paced the Pirates attack with two hits each. Alvarez drove in McCutchen in the fourth inning on an infield single to give the Pirates the lead. In the sixth, after a McCutchen double, Alvarez struck again as he was able to drive a ball through the right side of the infield for another RBI single. Alvarez raised his batting average to .118 on the season and has 4 RBI on four hits.
“It is great to see him involved in the offense,” Hurdle said with a smile.
With the pitching performance by Burnett, Juan Cruz, Tony Watson, Jason Grilli and Joel Hanrahan, the Pirates were able to improve their ERA to 2.53, third best in the league.
Looking to take the series from the reigning World Series champs, the Pirates (6-8) will turn to Erik Bedard (0-3, 2.65 ERA) tomorrow. Bedard has only had two runs scored for him in his three starts this season, so is hoping the offense will be able to contribute more than in his past outings. For the Cardinals (10-5) they will hand the ball to Kyle Lohse (2-0, 0.89 ERA) in hopes of stealing the series finale from the Bucs.
Photo credits: Getty Images
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