Pirates-Marlins: Pittsburgh Furnishes Florida with Losing Streak

The Pirates (8-6) gave the Marlins (11-3) just their third taste of losing with a hard-fought 3-2 win.

The surprising Pirates league leading ERA has all of baseball talking and tonight, it didn’t disappoint.

Jeff Karstens (1-0, 3.60 ERA) got the win, giving up three hits and a run over six innings, dramatically reducing his team-worst 6.75 ERA.  Matt Capps, behind solid defense, got his fourth save.

The Pirates started off wel, getting to Anibal Sanchez for a run in each of the first three innings.  In the first, LaRoche singled to center, scoring Nyler Moran.

In the second, a couple of doubles by Andy LaRoche and Jason Jaramillo scored a run.  

After the Marlins picked up a run in the top of the third on a Hanley Ramirez double, the Pirates answered with a Freddy Sanchez solo homer (2) over the left field wall.

The Marlins seem to have a strategy of trying to drive an opposing pitcher's pitch count up in the fifth inning by letting a batter fowl off a gaggle of pitches.  Then when the Marlins come up in the next inning, their batters are swinging away at pitches that are floating on tired arms.  

Despite the strategy, Karstens was able to keep his sixth inning pitches down enough so that the Marlins flied out a couple of times in the next inning, never reaching the warning track. 

Karstens got back ahead of his pitch count, putting him in a good position to pitch the seventh.

Then in the bottom of the sixth, after the Pirates got a couple of base runners on a hit and a throwing error with two outs, the Marlins intentionally walked Jaramillo in the number eight slot to get to the pitcher—knowing that Pirates would not pass up the chance to pinch hit Karstens with the bases loaded.  The risk paid off, as Sanchez was able to get Hinske to ground out to first and end the threat.

The Pirates called on middle reliever Tyler Yates (6.75 ERA), perhaps one of the weak spots in the Pirates bullpen.  Yates looked a little wild to get started, walking Hermida and throwing a couple of pitches in the dirt with Ross at bat.  However, Jack Wilson made another acrobatic play to double-up Hermida and Ross to end the inning.

After giving up a run in each of the first three innings, Sanchez settled down nicely, working out of trouble in the fifth.

In the seventh, the Pirates went 1-2-3 against Sanchez. In the inning McClouth drove another hit near the warning track, but remained a hitless 0-for-4 on the night.

In the top of the eighth, the Marlins strategy of getting to the pitchers began to pay off, as Cameron Maybin drove a second deck solo-shot over the left-field wall bringing the Marlins to within one.  

The Pirates went right to the bullpen, calling on John Grabow who has been reliable in his four appearances this year giving up four hits and no runs in four-and-two-thirds innings of work.  

After an out, Grabow gave up a sharply hit single to leadoff Bonafacio, and pitching coach Joe Kerrigan made a trip to the mound to talk about the next couple of batters.  Paulino walked and the Marlins had the go-ahead runners aboard.  Hanley Ramirez, who has had trouble with lefty pitchers, popped out to second.  The count went full to Ross Gload before he struck out swinging on a breaking ball.

The Pirates were in good shape for the ninth with the middle of the order coming up, a combined 0-8 on the night.  With Sanchez sitting at 100 pitches the Marlins called on fast-baller Renyel Pinto (1.69 ERA) to keep it a one-run game in the bottom of the eighth.

The Pirates went 1-2-3 in the bottom of the eighth against Pinto (two-thirds of an inning) and Kiko Calero (one-third).  In the top of the ninth, the Pirates brought out Matt Capps to break the trend of the Marlins come-from-behind wins.  

The Pirates defense stepped up with Jack Wilson making a diving catch and sharp throw to get Dan Uggla out at first.  Then after Jeremy Hermida singled, Ross hit a hard grounder to Adam LaRouche who doubled up the Marlins ending the comeback threat. 

The Pirates lead the series 2-0 with Paul Maholm (2-0, 0.87 ERA) starting tomorrow.

In a bit of bad news for the Pirates, a CT scan revealed a broken bone in catcher Ryan Doumit’s wrist.  The operation (scheduled for Thursday) will take Doumit out of the lineup for up to 10 weeks. 

This setback likely means the Pirates will be calling up Robinzon Diaz from AAA Indianapolis to back up Jaramillo at catcher.  The Pirates will miss Doumit's long-ball hitting and will have to rely on their pitching to continue their stellar performance.