Results tagged ‘ esmil rogers ’
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 1st.
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 1st 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 1st inning was the only run they would score the remainder of the game.
Tulowitzki lead off the 4th 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 6th 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 8th 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.”
Pre-game news and notes: Rockies @ Pirates 4/7
The Pirates (4-2) will face the Colorado Rockies (3-1) today at 1:35 PM for the first of a four game series. The Bucs kick off the season home opener today. Left-hander Paul Maholm will face right-hander Esmil Rogers.
- Maholm will be making his second start of the season. He’s coming off a great start where he pitched a shutout over 6.2 innings, limiting the Chicago Cubs to just five hits. Maholm walked two and struck out three but picked up a no-decision.
- Rogers will be making his first start of the season after winning the 5th spot in the rotation. Rogers appeared in 28 games (eight starts) and last year with the Rockies where he posted a 6.13 ERA.
- Pirates Manager Clint Hurdle will be facing his former team, the Colorado Rockies, in the home opener. Hurdle spent 2002-09 as the Rockies Manager before getting fired during the 2009 season. He went 534-625 and led the Rockies to their first and only World Series appearance in 2007.
Hurdle was replaced by Jim Tracy, who managed the Pirates from 2005-07.
Hurdle told Alden Gonzalez of MLB.com, “It drips with irony. I’ll leave all that up to [the media]. It’s perfect. Matter of fact, it’s a layup. The irony of [Jim] Tracy managing over there and I’m managing over here. I haven’t given it any more thought than that. You can’t write this stuff up by yourself. Life takes care of things and sports takes care of things.”
- Reliever Evan Meek pitched a 1-2-3 8th inning during Wednesday’s 3-1 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals. Meek was coming off back-to-back bad outings. It was reported that he was under the weather, but Meek did not use that as an excuse. He wanted the ball back to prove himself.
Meek told Rob Biertempfel of the Tribune, “(I wanted the ball) really badly, actually. It was one of those things where I knew I wasn’t far off. You don’t want to sit on it, you don’t want to wait, and that’s one of the good things about being a reliever is you get thrown back out there. I love that (manager Clint Hurdle) put me back out there with a two-run lead, I love that he has the confidence in me and that was big for me. Now I can build off that, take that into my next outing and just get on with it.”
- Happy Birthday to PNC Park, who turns 10-year-old on Saturday, April 9th. Re-live some of the memories from the stadium (read more here).
- President Frank Coonelly hosted a web chat with fans on Wednesday afternoon (you can read the entire transcript here).
- The Pirates currently lead the league in strikeouts. The pitching is picking up the slack and keeping games rather close. I know it still early in the season, but is this of any concern?
Coonelly: “The pitching, particularly the starting pitching, has been strong to date. On the high strikeout totals, yes, that is a concern for Clint [Hurdle] and his staff, and Clint has addressed the issue with the players. Giving the opponent free passes and making outs without putting the ball in play are both issues that we have prioritized”
- Will Pedro move to first base?
Coonelly: “After not taking charge on two infield popups on Opening Day, Pedro’s defense at third base has been solid-to-spectacular at times. It has been very encouraging — even on nights when he has struggled at the plate, he has not taken that to his defense. Again, last night Pedro made several solid plays at third. The best answer to the question has been provided by Pedro himself, as I’m sure you have seen. Pedro is committed to doing what in necessary for him to remain at third base. He has, as we have said many times, all of the tools necessary to remain at third base given his commitment and his tools. A move to first base is hardly inevitable.”
Pirates:
Jose Tabata LF, Neil Walker 2B, Andrew McCutchen CF, Lyle Overbay 1B, Pedro Alvarez 3B, Ryan Doumit C, Garrett Jones RF, Ronny Cedeno SS, Paul Maholm LHP
Rockies:
Dexter Fowler CF, Ryan Spilborghs RF, Carlos Gonzalez LF, Troy Tulowitzki SS, Lopez 2B, Todd Helton 1B, Ty Wigginton 3B, Chris Iannetta C, Esmil Rogers
Kristy Robinson
Recent Comments