Blown Call at HP, rough 4th, Bucs lose 5-3 to the Padres
In an instant, everything can change. The Bucs learned it the hard way last night as they lost to the Padres, 5-3.
In the first inning, with runners on first and third, Garrett Jones hit a grounder to first-baseman Adrian Gonzalez. He threw to home to try to get Jose Tabata at the plate. After a few seconds of waiting for the call by home plate umpire Bill Welke, Torrealba tagged Tabata and he signaled for the out. The replays clearly showed that Jose made a great play by touching home plate and avoiding the tag. John Rusell came out to argue the call, but it stood, no run. That ended the first inning for the Pirates, the momentum shifted.
It’s hard to really blame a loss on one call that happened in the first, but it definitly was a factor in what could have been an entirely different game.
“He didn’t see Jose’s hand go in there,” Russell said of Welke. “I think he’d know if he had to look at it on replay. But he didn’t see the hand go in there … and it did.”
Said Tabata, through his interpreter, first-base coach Carlos Garcia: “I was kind of surprised when he didn’t call anything at the beginning, because I know for sure my hand touched the plate. And I was kind of surprised that he saw that play the way he did, but I’m pretty sure he just told me that he didn’t see me touch the plate, and that’s why he didn’t make any call.”
Could’ve helped obviously,” Russell said of the run that wasn’t. “It’s a tie game. We score the three runs, we tie it up, [and] it might have changed the outcome a little bit. You hate for something like that to happen, because it is a run, and plays that cost you runs, they hurt, especially in a close game.”
The Pirates managed to only get six hits and two earned runs off Correia through six innings. (Correia’s ERA is 5.09, the worst of the staff of Padres starters. That tells you how good the arms have been.)
Paul Maholm, coming off arguably one of the best starts of his career, pitched six innings, giving up nine hits, four runs with two walks and two strikeouts. If it wasn’t for the rough second inning, Paul would have pitched a pretty good game. (He gave up four runs, four hits, faced eight batters and threw 28 pitches in the second.)
I really can’t say they hit a ball hard,” Maholm said of the second. “They found holes, broken-bat double — just the kind of inning that happens. But I felt good. I still felt like I could go out and throw my pitches when I wanted to, and try to keep us in the game. That was the biggest thing, is make sure it didn’t get any bigger.”
The Pirates cut the lead to two runs in the fourth inning when Pedro Alvarez single advanced two runners into scoring position thanks to a throwing error by Everth Cabrera. Lastings Milledge singled home both runners making the score, 4-2.
In the fifth inning, Tabata hit an RBI ground out to bring the game within one run.
Brendan Donnelly came in to pitch in the seventh inning. Throwing 13 pitches, 12 of them balls, he walked the bases loaded with no outs.
D.J. Carrasco came into the jam and continued to prove what a great asset he is to the Pirates. The Padres only managed to get one run, a Will Venable Sac Fly.
Heath Bell recorded his major-league leading 28th save of the season.
The Bucs have a challanging series on their hands, not only are the Padres first in the National League but a big part of that has been their stellar pitching this season. Entering Friday’s game the Padres leads MLB in Bullpen ERA (2.87), and second in Starting Pitching ERA (3.30) and rank third in Strikeouts (750).
Today’s Pitching Matchup:
Matt Latos 10-4, 2.45 ERA
VS
Jeff Karstens 2-5, 4.84 ERA
Latos just coming off the disabled list (strained left oblique) will start against the Pirates. He leads the Padres with 10 victories and will be making his first start since July 8th. Matt, who has proved to have one of the strongest arms in the NL in the first half of the season, has even impressed veteran Heath Bell.
“He’s showing what we all think he can do,” Bell said. “He’s not just a young kid with great, unbelievable stuff that doesn’t know what he’s doing. Every outing he’s learning.
“I told him, ‘You have the potential to be a No. 1. You have the potential, when we lose a few games, to be that stopper, that ace that we know we can ride.’ … With Mat, we have a chance to win every single outing.”
Karstens retired the first 12 batters he faced on 29 pitches his last outing. Although he did give up two long balls to both Fielder and Weeks he did mange to throw 53 of his 66 pitches for strikes. Jeff hasn’t picked up a win since June 19th, but has allowed just three runs or less in three of his five starts since.
I just felt I had a really good rhythm throwing strikes,” Karstens said. “And then, when I got ahead, I was expanding the zone a little bit, making them chase. Just doing what I’ve been doing while I’ve been here.”
Other Pirates News:
- To say Neil Walker has been hot is an understatement. In the Brewers series he went 11 for 17, with 4 2B, and 5 RB. Raised his AVG from .289 to .320, 51 points in the 2nd half alone. He’s been great since being called up on May 25th.
“What he went through, I think really made him a stronger player,” Russell said. “Fighting his way, struggling a little bit in Triple-A and finding it toward the end of the season last year. Came in, he knew Pedro [Alvarez] was going to play third, so I think it challenged him in another direction. We challenged him to play other positions and challenged him to try to find a spot that he could settle in.”
- Pirates promote 33rd round draft pick Justin Ennis (LHP) to Single-A West Virginia.
- Joel Hanrahan’s miserable six-run seventh inning against the Brewers three months ago is not a distant memory, not even close.
“I wouldn’t say that I put that outing behind me, I’d say I use it more as motivation,” Hanrahan said. “These guys, they’re coming up there trying to take food off your plate at all times, and you’ve got to go out there and take it personally and go out there and try to do your job, I guess. But I use that as motivation because, you can ask [Octavio] Dotel and [Brendan] Donnelly, we’ve all had games like that against Milwaukee, and we use that as motivation and try to work on it and try to get our numbers down as much as possible.”
Hanrahan has done just that, giving up just 10 earned runs in 37 2/3 innings (38 appearances) since, lowering his ERA from 15.75 to 3.67. Take away that April 22 outing, which came in a Pirates’ 20-0 loss, and Hanrahan’s ERA is 2.43.
The 28-year-old right-hander struck out two in the ninth Thursday against the Brewers and has now tossed four scoreless innings in four appearances since the All-Star break, striking out six, walking none and allowing just two hits.
With the July 31 non-waiver Trade Deadline fast approaching, Pirates manager John Russell has repeatedly said he likes what he has in his bullpen. Hanrahan isn’t oblivious to the chatter, but his mindset remains the same.
“This time of the year, obviously, there’s a lot of trade talks going on with everybody, and people joke about it and everything, and you got outside people coming in, like family members, asking questions,” Hanrahan said. “It’s nice not to see your name in there and then it is also flattering to see your name in trade rumors, too — that teams are interested in you and other teams feel like you can help them in the playoff race. That’s always fun, too, but it’s one of those things you can’t worry about. You just go out there and pitch.”
Around the Ballparks:
- Corey Hart’s x-ray on right wrist came up negative, his MRBI showed just a thumb bruise. Doesn’t appear to be DL, but he may be out few days
Ned Colletti says Dodgers are serious buyers–With the trade deadline nearing, general manager says he has been on the phone and actively trying to improve the team. -LATimes
In yesterday’s Mariners/Red Sox game, Chone Figgins got into a fight, not with the Sox but his own Manager, Don Wakamatsu. After he got pulled in the fifth inning for not hustling, they exchanged words and it got pretty heated. You can watch the video here if you missed it.
The long comeback of Rockies Pitcher Taylor Bucholz is almost complete. After undergoing Tommy John in 2008, he is set to be activated today before the game vs the Phillies.
Jim Leyland not excited to trade away Tigers’ prospects -freep.com
Roy Halladay- 8 scoreless innings last night is the 7th time Halladay has pitched 7+ innings & allowed 0 ER, most in majors.
Phillies have posted consecutive shutouts for 2nd time this season. Last time they had 2 such streaks in a season was 1986.
Joe Mauer: 1st HR since July 6. All 5 HR this season have come on road. Mauer hit his 5th HR in his 13th game last season.
Orlando Hudson diagnosed with strained right oblique, which tends to linger and send player to the DL.
The Nationals exercise team option and will Jim Riggleman as the manager for 2011.
The A’s sign catcher Kurt Suzuki to a four-year, $16.25 M extension.
Pedroia thinks he won’t need to make a minor league rehab stint. “The Red Sox need me more than the PawSox.” (via @ESPNJoeyMac)
Choo activated from the DL. Aaron Laffey onto 15-day DL with left shoulder fatigue.
Largest win pct improvement (NL) entering thurs:
2009 2010 Dif.
Padres .463 .591 .128
Mets .432 .516 .084
Reds .481 .552 .071
Nationals .364 .432 .068
Braves .531 .585 .054
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10 + Wins and ERA under 2.00 thru 20 starts:
2010- Josh Johnson 10W, 1.61 ERA
2000- Pedro Martinez 14W, 1.40 ERA
1998 Greg Maddux 12W, 1.57 ERA
1997- Pedro Martinez 12W, 1.80 ERA
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San Diego Padres Pitching Staff-MLB Rank(Entering Fri):
ERA- 3.30 (2nd)
Pen’ ERA- 2.87 (1st)
Shutouts- 12 (2nd)
Opp AVG- .239 (2nd)
Strikeouts- 750 (3rd)
Road ERA- 3.75 (3rd)
Here are some pictures I took from the game last night.
Heath Bell about to record his ML leading 28th Save.
Paul Maholm facing Adrian Gonzalez in the 1st inning.
Kristy Robinson
