This is the difference a week makes:
When Christian Yelich hit his seventh inning home run to put the Marlins ahead of the Pirates 2-0, I thought to myself, “I don’t think that’s going to be enough.” The Pirates hadn’t done much at the plate to that point, but knowing the way that they’ve been hitting and the shape the Marlins’ bullpen is in, I wasn’t really worried. A half inning later, the Pirates had a 5-2 lead, and their sixth straight win was more or less in the bag.
The game-changing rally unfolded so quickly it was almost unbelievable: with two outs in the seventh inning, Chris Stewart and Jose Tabata both singled, then newly minted general manager probably made the mistake that enabled the inning to get out of hand: he switched lefty Mike Dunne out for righty Sam Dyson to pitch to Josh Harrison. Harrison singled Stewart home, and then Clint Hurdle capitalized on Jennings being out of lefties in his bullpen (today’s starter, Brad Hand, is the Marlins other lefty) by sending Pedro Alvarez up to hit for Jordy Mercer. Alvarez singled Tabata home, and then Dyson walked both Andrew McCutchen and Starling Marte to put the Pirates ahead. Jung Ho Kang finished off the rally seven batters after it started with a two-run single.
The rally was particularly nice to see, as Gerrit Cole turned in another sterling performance on the mound for the Bucs. He only allowed two runs on solo homers in his seven innings of work, striking out seven, walking none, and scattering five hits besides the homers. He only needed 81 pitches. If you were concerned about how Cole would look after throwing 107 and 110 pitches in his last two starts, well, the answer is that he looked fine.
The homestand didn’t start well, but these six wins couldn’t have come at a better time for the Pirates. They’re off to the West Coast now, to try and keep the hot streak going.
Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images
