Johnson, Marlins shutout Pirates, 6-0
A great pitching performance by the Florida Marlins right-hander Josh Johnson limited the Bucs to just two hits over seven innings in the Pirates 6-0 loss at Sun Life Stadium on Tuesday.
Johnson, who had a no-hitter going against the Atlanta Braves through 7.1 inning during his last start, blanked the Pirates over seven shutout innings (98 pitches). The two lone hits came from Garrett Jones, a single to right in the 5th and John Bowker, a pinch hit single in the 6th inning.
The 27-year-old walked one and struck out nine.
Manager Clint Hurdle told Root Sports, “The fastball’s top shelf. If you want to start a franchise and pick a pitcher, you’re not going to go wrong picking him. When you can go high-90′s, down hill plane with a good finish, a combination of the slider. He threw a handful of curves, not many but that’s a pitch he’s working on –like he needs another one. The cutter and the changeup is just nasty…He shut down four teams to start with and unfortunately we were one of them. He’s good. He’s a legit ace.”
The Marlins bullpen, which consisted of lefty Michael Dunn and right-hander Brian Sanches in relief didn’t allow a hit or run over two innings of work, with three strikeouts.
Paul Maholm retired the first five batters he faced, but from there, Maholm just wasn’t sharp. After hitting Mike Stanton with a pitch, he allowed back-to-back singles to load the bases with two outs. Johnson hit a two-RBI single to give the Marlins a 2-0 lead.
Stanton leadoff the fourth when a double to left field that hit off the wall. John Buck followed with a RBI double to right. Emilio Bonifacio singled and Chris Coghlan walked to load the bases. Maholm walked in a run after throwing a five pitch walk to Hanley Ramirez.
Maholm was pulled with the bases loaded and two outs in the 4th. Rookie Mike Crotta allowed a two-run single by Gaby Sanchez to give the Marlins a 6-0 lead.
Maholm was charged with six runs on seven hits with three walks and four strikeouts (76 pitches) over 3.2 innings –his shortest outing this season and the shortest since September 15, 2010 against the New York Mets. His ERA jumped from 2.33 to 4.30 and he picked up his third loss of the year.
Maholm told Root Sports, “There’s a lot of different things. First inning was great and then, I just kind of fell out of rhythm, left pitches over the plate. If you don’t get ahead of some of those guys, they’re aggressive. They’re good hitters. It just comes down to me not pitching well.”
“It sucks. I didn’t give the team a chance at all to win. Facing Johnson, you got to be good and I wasn’t.”
The Pirates (8-9) will face the Marlins (9-6) for the second of a three game series tomorrow at 7:10 PM ET. Right-hander Charlie Morton will be on the mound for the Bucs against righty Ricky Nolasco.
Kristy Robinson
