Pirates lose, 7-1, to Rockies in home opener

The Pirates combined for just four hits off of the Colorado pitching staff (lead by Esmil Rogers) in the 7-1 loss to the Rockies on the Bucs home opener.

Rogers allowed just one run on four hits over 7.1 innings with one walk and seven strikeouts.

Neil Walker told Rob Biertempfel of the Tribune, “A lot of us were up there looking for certain pitches. When he’s throwing 93, 94, 95 (mph) on the inner half for strikes to righties and lefties, your eyes light up when you see balls over the plate then, when you go to swing at 94, 95, it’s tough to barrel it up. I think we’ll be more prepared next time we face him.”

39,219 fans –the second largest crowd in PNC Park history– packed the stadium in their black and yellow on a gorgeous afternoon but the Pirates unfortunately couldn’t at pull out the third straight home opener victory.

Left-hander Paul Maholm started his first career home opener for the Bucs, and his second start of the season.

Maholm allowed five runs (three earned) on eight hits with one strikeout over 5.2 innings.

Maholm tweeted after the loss, “The fans deserved a better opening day performance from all of us. Sorry. We still expect to win the series. #letsgobucs!”

The first pitch thrown by the left hander was hit into center field by the Rockies leadoff batter, Dexter Fowler. With one out, Carlos Gonzalez hit a ground ball to second, but Walker’s throw to the base was off as it went past Ronny Cedeno and into left field. Fowler scored and Gonzalez advanced to third on the two base error. Troy Tulowitzki followed with a sac fly to put Colorado up 2-0 in the 1^st.

Walker told Rob Biertempfel of the Tribune, “I just blew it. Just a terrible play. Just bad. I just didn’t make the play. I hurried it. That’s it.”

Jose Tabata lead off the bottom of the 1^st with a single to center field. Walker hit a single, advancing Tabata to third base and also swiped his first bag of the season. Andrew McCutchen hit a grounder to third to score Tabata and cut the lead 2-1.

The Bucs, the run in the 1^st inning was the only run they would score the remainder of the game.

Tulowitzki lead off the 4^th inning with a solo homerun to the left field seats, giving the Rockies a 3-1 lead.

Tulowitzki told Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com, “Obviously, they’ve played good baseball. Today they made a few mistakes and we took advantage of it. But I know Hurdle. He’s a good manager. He’ll do a good job over there.”

Maholm allowed three straight hits (two of them doubles) in the 6^th as the Rockies added two more insurance runs.

Resop also gave up three straight hits (all singles) and two runs, pushing the Rockies lead to 7-1.

Rogers retired 18 batters in a row until Ronny Cedeno singled in the 8^th inning. Steve Pearce, who pinch hit for Garrett Olson, singled and picked up his first hit of the season. With two on and one out, Tabata hit into an inning ending double play to end the threat.  

Manager Clint Hurdle told Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com, “He was aggressive. I expected more from our offense. We’re always going to expect more from our offense. Rogers showed up and pitched well.”