Pirates' rally comes up short in extra-innings loss to Marlins
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For the third straight contest, the Pittsburgh Pirates and Miami Marlins traded blows late in a roller-coaster game.
The Pirates rallied to tie the score in the ninth but lost 4-3 in 11 innings Saturday at loanDepot Park.
Jon Berti drove in the winning run off Pirates reliever Angel Perdomo.
In Thursday’s series opener, Miami rode a five-run eighth inning to victory, which was followed by the Pirates scoring three runs in the ninth inning Friday to take Game 2.
Joey Wendle began the 11th inning on second base Saturday and advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by Nick Fortes, setting the stage for Berti’s winning hit.
The Pirates’ struggles with runners in scoring position continued, with the club going 2 of 17 in those situations.
“We kept grinding,” manager Derek Shelton said on the AT&T SportsNet postgame show. “… We’ve faced good starting pitching, but we have got to create more opportunities.”
The Pirates trailed 2-1 in the top of the ninth and were down to their final out when Jason Delay ripped a double down the left-field line to score Nick Gonzales, who had walked, tying the score.
Then, in the 10th, Ke’Bryan Hayes plated Josh Palacios from second to give the Pirates a short-lived 3-2 lead.
Shelton sent closer David Bednar — who had pitched a scoreless ninth — back to the mound in the 10th, but this time he was unable to preserve the lead as a sacrifice fly by Yuli Gurriel scored the inning’s automatic runner, Bryan De La Cruz, who had advanced to third on a Jesus Sanchez groundout.
Bednar delivered his first multi-inning outing of the year and threw a season-high 29 pitches.
“We wanted to throw (Bednar) in the ninth because of the leverage and he felt strong, so we sent him back out there, but I don’t think that’s going to be a common thing,” Shelton said.
The late lead changes and dramatic finish overshadowed the game’s first seven innings, through which Miami held a 2-0 lead.
Pirates starter Osvaldo Bido was largely solid in his third big-league outing, pitching 5 2/3 innings with five strikeouts and zero walks.
But he gave up a two-run homer to Luis Arraez in the fifth for the game’s first runs.
Bido (0-1, 3.45 ERA) allowed nine hits and took a no-decision.
“I felt pretty good,” Bido said through interpreter Stephen Morales. “(I had) the same focus I had (June 19) in Chicago … The key is just sticking to my routine and working harder.”
After Bido exited, Yerry De Los Santos and Roansy Contreras combined to pitch 21⁄ 3 innings of scoreless baseball.
The Pirates got on the board in the eighth.
Andrew McCutchen, who in the sixth inning hit his 400th career double, had another double in the eighth and scored on an RBI single by Carlos Santana.
McCutchen reached base all five times, adding three walks to his two doubles.
Gonzales, playing in his second career MLB game and still searching for his first big-league hit, went 0 for 4 with a walk.
Source: TribLIVE
