Gerrit Cole pitched as advertised as he went 6 1/3 innings while allowing 2 runs in his major league debut in a Pirates 8 – 2 victory.
It would only take him three pitches into his ML career to get his 1st strikeout as he got Gregor Blanco on three straight fastballs (96mph, 96mph, and 99mph). He would then allow two singles sandwiched around a Buster Posey fly out before getting Brandon Belt to pop out to Clint Barmes to end the inning.
He would experience the same problem in the second as he allowed two singles before hitting Blanco with two out, but again, he would get a fly out to leave the inning unscathed.
Cole would help himself on the offensive side in the bottom of the second after Russell Martin, Pedro Alvarez, and Neil Walker singled to load the bases with one out. Cole would work a 3 – 2 count from Lincecum before driving a fastball into the right-center field gap to make it 2 – 0. It was Cole’s first professional hit and the first since high school. “I just got lucky”, said the Rookie.
The hit seemed to calm Cole down as he would retire the next 13 Giants hitters. Clint Hurdle also credits the Giants game plan of trying to get to Cole early in the count; “They had a lot of miss-hits early. They saw some pitches early, they tried to push it that way – it didn’t happen, he just pushed the ball over the strike zone, kept it down, got some miss-hits and was able to pitch to the backside of the baseball game”. Cole also noted that he was more comfortable playing with the lead; “It just allows me to be more aggressive.”
The Pirates, on the other hand, kept the hits coming as they would get two unearned runs in the fifth. Andrew McCutchen would walk to lead-off the inning and Garrett Jones would follow with a single to right. Hunter Pence would miss-play the ball allowing Cutch to score and Jones to reach third. Alvarez would then knock in Jones to make it 4 – 0 and a Starling Marte laser beam to the left-field seats in the sixth would make it 5 – 0.
The Giants would finally strike against Cole in the seventh as he would allow three hits and one run before getting removed to a loud, standing ovation with one out in the seventh. “I was trying not to look up because I felt like I was going to smile and I wanted to look hard or really cool (laughs), but it was very much appreciated and it was very hard for me to keep a stone face.”
Tony Watson and Vin Mazzaro would come in and allow only one inherited run to cross before getting out of the inning for Cole with a 5 – 2 lead.
The Bucs would put the game away for good in the bottom as Cutch would lead-off, yet again, with a single and steal second. Jones would then walk and Martin would knock in Cutch with a single up the middle. Jones would be thrown out trying for third on the play. Alvarez, then, came up and crushed a fastball over the right-center field bleachers to make it 8 – 2.
Bryan Morris and would finish the game off for Gerrit Cole’s first major league win in as many tries. Final Score: Pirates 8, Giants 2.
Worth Noting:
Giants manager Bruce Bochy and reliever, George Karros were both ejected in the 8th inning after Karros threw behind Marte and hit Cutch.
These two will be back at it tomorrow night at 7:05.
Starters Lines:
Cole (W, 1 – 0): 6 1/3 IN, 2 R, 2 ER, 7 H, 2 K’s, 1 HP. 81 Pitches (59 Strikes).
Lincecum (L, 4 – 6): 4 2/3 IN, 4 R, 2 ER, 7 H, 2 BB, 4 K’s, 1 HP. 102 Pitches (61 Strikes)
Tomorrow’s Starters:
(LHP) Francisco Liriano (PIT) 4 – 2, 1.75 ERA
(LHP) Barry Zito (SF) 4 – 4, 4.06 ERA
(Photo Credit: Keith Srakocic)
