Pirates lose to Indians, 5-2

By Paul Zeise

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The Pirates bats were red hot and the team was coming off a sweep of Detroit and hoping to build on that momentum as they began a 10-game homestand Friday at PNC Park against the Cleveland Indians.

And by the end, a soggy start and a long rain delay, wouldn’t be the only thing that dampened the spirits of the Pirates fans as the Indians pitchers did their best to steal the joy of the home crowd, too.

The Indians used five pitchers to stymie the Pirates bats and won, 5-2, in front of a sold out crowd of 38,840 at PNC Park in a game that lasted more than five hours and ended well after midnight.

“We’ve been doing this a lot lately so I don’t think it is a challenge,” Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said when asked if he thought the rain delay made it tough for his team to get refocused and finish the game. “We have some experience doing this.”

Rain notwithstanding, the Pirates managed only three hits in the game – two of them came in the fourth inning – and really didn’t even mount many credible scoring threats considering they only left three men on base.

On the other hand, Pirates pitcher Charlie Morton got off to a rocky start as all three hitters he faced he faced in the top of the first inning hit the ball hard but he right at Pirates fielders.

So even though Morton survived that inning unscathed, it was clearly a sign of things to come and sure enough the Indians got on board in the top of the second.

Indians outfielder David Murphy led off that inning with a single and then Brandon Moss followed with a two-run homer to left and all of the sudden it was 2-0 Indians.

Morton got into trouble again in the top of the fourth as Moss was hit by a pitch, advanced to third on a single by Yan Gomes and then scored on a double by Michael Bourn.

The damage in that inning would have been worse except Starling Marte made a great play on the hit by Gomes and threw him out at second as he tried to stretch his single into a double.

Meanwhile, Indians starting pitcher Trevor Bauer was perfect through the first three innings but he, too, ran into trouble in the fourth and that allowed the Pirates to get back into the game.

Neil Walker led off the inning with a single to right then Andrew McCutchen blasted his tenth home run of the season – this one over the centerfield wall – and all of the sudden it was 3-2 Indians.

Morton (6-2) never really settled in and he was bailed out several times by his defense and as a result he managed to dance through the rain drops – both figuratively and literally as it was raining on and off throughout the entire game – and minimize the damage done by the Indians offense.

And his line wasn’t terrible, either, as he went six innings and allowed only four hits and three earned runs, but he also walked three and he wasn’t efficient and ended up throwing 104 pitches.

Hurdle said Morton didn’t have his best game but battled through some things and turned in a very credible performance.

“He was able to get his ball down but early on his ball was elevated a little bit and he made the one pitch to Moss where he left the ball over the plate,” Hurdle said. “But he had 11 guys retired on three pitches or less and 11 ground ball outs so his overall volume of work was pretty good.

“He gave us a start and kept us the game. It was a little less of the command we have seen but we kept setting the bar pretty high for ourselves when we keep trying to dissect the guy who pitched six innings and gave up only three runs as if he came up short…he didn’t.”

Antonio Bastardo took over for Morton in the 7th and worked his way into a jam of his own as he walked pitcher Trevor Bauer and second baseman Jason Kipnis and the Indians had men on first and second with only one out.

But like Morton before him, Bastardo got out of it as he struck out Francisco Lindor and got Michael Brantley to fly out harmlessly to left to end the inning.

Andrew McCutchen walked to lead off the top of the 7th inning and then Starling Marte hit into a fielder’s choice as McCutchen was forced out at second.

That meant the Pirates had a runner on first and one out and that’s when the umpires decided that the steady rain that had been falling for a lot of the night had soaked the field sufficiently to stop the game.

And to the delight of the fans who stayed in the park, the Cardinals-Padres game was shown on the Jumbotron during the rain delay and Pirates fans were able to cheer Jedd Gyorko’s RBI single in the 9th to lift the Padres to a 2-1 win.

It was the fourth loss in a row for the Cardinals (51-28) -- their longest losing streak of the season – and meant the Pirates would have a chance to pick up a game on them in the standings for the fourth night in a row.

The rain delay lasted 2 hours, 8 minutes and when the game finally got going again, the once sold out crowd had dwindled to a handful of spirited diehards.

Bauer (7-5) had been cruising for most of the game as the Pirates only managed one more hit off of him after the McCutchen home run – a 6th inning single by Josh Harrison that was cleaned up by a nifty 3-6-1 double play off the bat of Walker.

He came out to start the seventh inning but the rain delay ended his night after he went 6 1/3 innings and gave up three hits, 2 earned runs and threw only 74 pitches.

Lefty reliever Marc Rzepczynski started for the Indians after the game got going again and he faced Pedro Alvarez with one out and Marte on first when the game finally got going again.

Rzepczynski struck out Alvarez on three pitches and then was done for the night as Indians manager Terry Francona brought in righty Zach McAllister to face Francisco Cervelli and he drew a walk.

McAllister then ended the inning – and the Pirates threat – with a strikeout of Gregory Polanco.

Hard throwing reliever Arquimedes Caminero started the eighth inning for the Pirates but he didn’t finish it, or even close to finishing it, and that wasn’t good news for the home team.

The Indians used a walk and consecutive singles to load the bases against Caminero and then Bourn broke the game open with a two-run single to right center.

“It is all about location,” Hurdle said with regards to Caminero’s inability to get outs. “His balls have been elevated [recently] more than they have been in the past.”

Hurdle then relieved Caminero with Jared Hughes, who got the Pirates out of the inning without giving up any more runs, but the damage had already been done as the Indians pushed their lead to 5-2.

Indians closer Cody Allen worked a scoreless ninth to pick up his 16th save in 17 chances.

The Pirates (45-34), who remained six games behind the National League Central-leading Cardinals, and Indians (38-41) will play again today at 4:05 and Jeff Locke (4-4, 4.55 ERA) will take the mound against rookie Cody Anderson (1-0, 0.57).