Bullpen comes up big for Pirates in close win over Giants
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The San Francisco Giants used an opener, and it backfired.
The Pittsburgh Pirates turned to their closer, and he fired back.
Connor Joe homered off John Brebbia in the first inning, Rodolfo Castro scored the winning run on a wild pitch, and All-Star closer David Bednar earned his first save in a month as the Pirates’ bullpen pitched four-plus scoreless innings for a 2-1 win Tuesday night at Oracle Park.
“The guys threw the ball really well, so I had to finish it off,” Bednar, who earned his 10th save, said on the AT&T Sportsnet postgame show. “It’s impressive. It’s a good group out there. We trust everybody that goes out there to fill it up and get the job done.”
A day after a 14-4 loss to the Giants, the Pirates (27-27) are back to .500 and within a game in the NL Central standings of the Milwaukee Brewers (28-26), who lost to Toronto, 7-2. The Pirates have a chance to clinch their first series win this month when Mitch Keller starts the finale at 3:45 p.m. Wednesday.
The Giants used the right-handed Brebbia to start, and he retired the first two batters he faced in the first before Joe drove his full-count slider 388 feet to left field for his sixth home run and a 1-0 Pirates lead. Joe snapped an 0-for-16 funk Monday night with a seventh-inning double.
“It’s big. Connor’s been grinding a bit,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “To get us on the board early when we know that they’re going to mix and match is really important.”
Pirates starter Johan Oviedo issued back-to-back walks of Mike Yastrzemski and J.D. Davis followed by Michael Conforto’s RBI single to left that tied the game at 1-1 in the bottom of the first.
Giants lefty Sean Manaea struck out Jack Suwinski twice and kept the Pirates off the board until the fifth, when their aggressive baserunning put them ahead. Rodolfo Castro hit a one-out single to center, advanced to third when Jason Delay’s single bounced past left fielder Mitch Haniger and scored on Manaea’s wild pitch in the dirt for a 2-1 lead.
“Rudy did a good job getting a break on a ball he saw down and did a good job baserunning,” Shelton said. “We didn’t have a ton of opportunities, and we capitalized on a ball in the dirt.”
Delay tried to score from third when Josh Palacios hit a grounder to LaMonte Wade Jr. at first but was thrown out when catcher Patrick Bailey blocked the plate with his left leg. The Pirates challenged the call, but it was upheld after a video review. Palacios was picked off at first by Bailey to end the inning.
Oviedo issued five walks but struck out four of the final seven batters he faced, running up his pitch count to 82 after four innings. After Wade hit a leadoff double in the fifth, Oviedo got Yastrzemski swinging before being replaced by Dauri Moreta.
“When the situation dictated, he came up big and made a big pitch,” Delay said of Oviedo. “His execution maybe wasn’t there early, but when it came time to make a pitch, he was able to do it.”
Davis drew a walk and both runners moved into scoring position on Conforto’s fly out to center, but Moreta got Haniger to ground out to third to escape the jam.
After Blake Sabol, selected from the Pirates in the Rule 5 Draft, hit a leadoff single and Moreta struck out Casey Schmitt in the sixth, manager Derek Shelton turned to lefty Jose Hernandez. Joe made an unassisted double play when he caught Bailey’s line drive and stepped on first base.
Colin Holderman got four outs in relief by finishing off the seventh by getting Davis to ground into a forceout, then stranding Conforto after a leadoff single in the eighth by getting Haniger looking at a called third strike and Sabol and Schmitt to fly out to Bae in center.
“I know when my name is called, I’ve got to go pitch no matter how many outs it is,” Holderman said. “I’m just trying to give it my best and give us the best chance to win.”
After Giants lefty Taylor Rogers struck out the side in the top of the ninth, Bednar came on for his first save opportunity since April 29 at Washington. He got Bailey and Brett Wisely to go down swinging and Wade to fly out to center for the final out.
“We knew it was going to be a tough game because they could match up with their bullpen, and they did,” Shelton said. “Give credit to our guys. They really pitched well.”
Source: TribLIVE
