PNC Park – The Pirate bats finally woke up as they avoided a sweep by the Athletics Wednesday night (Thursday morning) in a 5 – 0 victory.
Francisco Liriano continued his dominance as he shut out the A’s for his second complete game in as many starts. “He set the tone, he dominated,” said manager, Clint Hurdle. “He was on top of his game.”
The only amount of trouble Liriano experienced came in the first inning when he allowed a single to Coco Crisp and a one out walk to Josh Donaldson. Yoenis Cespedes would then ground a nubber to the right side of the mound where Liriano was able to pick up and tag Cespedes. Crisp, who rounded third too far on the play would be thrown out by Liriano to end the inning.
That would be the A’s only true scoring threat of the game. He would only allow three other base runners the rest of the way. Liriano credits that play at third as a turning point in the game for him; “I think I was a little too anxious in the first inning. I was trying to do too much and I was overthrowing. I wasn’t locating my pitches, but I got away with it and after that I was able to keep the ball down.”
Justin Wilson (1 Hit, 1 K) and Jeanmar Gomez (0 Hits, 1 K) would throw a scoreless inning each to complete the shutout for the Buccos.
The Pirates got things started in the third inning when Starling Marte and Jose Tabata led the inning off with back-to-back doubles to make it 1 – 0. Andrew McCutchen and Pedro Alvarez would then record RBI singles to chase Oakland starter, Tommy Milone.
They would strike again in the next inning against reliever, Pat Neshek. With two out, Tabata reached by way of a fielder’s choice. He would move to third on an Andrew McCutchen single and score on a Russell Martin single. Alvarez would finish the scoring off with a single to score Cutch.
The Pirates avoid the sweep and end their four game losing skid.
Final Score: Pirates 5, Athletics 0
Starters Lines:
Liriano (W, 9 – 3): 7 IN, 4 H, 1 BB, 6 K’s. 90 Pitches (58 Strikes)
Milone (L, 8 – 8): 2 2/3 IN, 7 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 B, 2 K’s. 80 Pitches (54 Strikes)
The Pirates will have an off day tomorrow before opening up a three game set with the Mets at PNC starting on Friday.
Follow Travis for Pirates news and in-game updates on Twitter @TBerardi_OVA or @ovathletics
(Photo Credit: AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
