PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Pirates are still providing plenty
of surprises in their successful first half of the season.
Mike McKenry’s first major league home run, a three-run shot in
the eighth inning, rallied Pittsburgh to a 7-4 victory over the
Chicago Cubs on Friday night and assured the surprising Pirates of
a winning record at the All-Star break for the first time in 19
years.
The Pirates were 49-39 at the break in 1992 on their way to a
third consecutive NL East title. They have had 18 consecutive
losing seasons since, a record for major North American
professional sports.
‘I’ve learned from experience that you don’t put expectations on
people,” coach Clint Hurdle said. ‘You draw up a plan and follow
that plan. I don’t what’s going to happen from here on in. I’m not
an expert. My job is just to get ready to play. Where that’s going
to take us, I don’t know.”
Where it has taken the Pirates so far is contention in the NL
Central. They are in a second-place tie with the St. Louis
Cardinals, one game behind the Milwaukee Brewers.
The Pirates have 10 players on the disabled list and started
four rookies on Friday. Yet they won for the fifth time in six
games thanks to McKenry, who is hitting .242 in 20 games.
McKenry was the backup catcher with the Boston Red Sox’s
Triple-A Pawtucket club when the Pirates acquired him in a trade
last month. Yet he has settled in nicely as the starting catcher
with Chris Snyder and Ryan Doumit on the DL.
‘The thing about Mike is he comes to play,” Hurdle said. ‘On the
home run, he kept taking good pass after good pass after good pass.
You got the feeling he was going to square a pitch up
eventually.”
McKenry tried to downplay the biggest moment of his young
career.
‘I don’t know about being the hero,” he said. ‘There were eight
other innings where guys just battled their brains out.”
The Pirates stayed hot before yet another large crowd as they
continue to win back old fans and make new ones in a city that has
waited a generation for a competitive baseball team.
Attendance was 37,140, the Pirates’ ninth sellout of the season
and fifth in their past seven dates at PNC Park.
‘Anytime you have sellout crowds, it’s usually an electric
atmosphere,” Hurdle said. ‘And the atmosphere has truly been
electric in this ballpark. It’s been great to see and be a part of
it.”
McHenry’s drive deep into the left-field bleachers came one
batter after Carlos Marmol suffered his sixth blown save in 24
opportunities when he relieved Sean Marshall (5-3) and allowed Josh
Harrison’s game-tying single on the rookie third baseman’s 24th
birthday.
Daniel McCutchen (3-1) got the final out of the eighth inning
for the win and Joel Hanrahan got his 26th save.
Harrison had three of the Pirates’ 12 hits, Andrew McCutchen
homered, Neil Walker hit a two-run single and rookie left fielder
Alex Presley and Lyle Overbay added two hits each.
Phillies 3, Braves 2, 10 innings: Raul Ibanez hit a solo homer
with one out in the bottom of the 10th inning to lift the Phillies
to a victory over the Braves.
Roy Halladay pitched seven strong innings, Carlos Ruiz hit a
tying homer and the Phillies increased their lead to 3.5 games over
the Braves in the NL East. It was manager Charlie Manuel’s 600th
career win with the team.
Rockies 3, Nationals 2: Jason Hammel pitched into the seventh
inning for his second win in 13 starts, and the Rockies beat the
Nationals to end a five-game losing streak.
Hammel (5-8) allowed two runs and five hits as Colorado won for
the first time in eight road games.
Marlins 6, Astros 3: Hanley Ramirez continued his recent torrid
hitting with three hits and three RBIs and Javier Vazquez pitched
seven solid innings as the Marlins defeated the Astros.
Florida broke a 2-2 tie and took the lead for good on Ramirez’s
run-scoring single in the third inning. He drove in Gaby Sanchez,
who reached on a two-out double.
Diamondbacks 7, Cardinals 6: Leadoff man Kelly Johnson broke a
seventh-inning tie with his second grand slam of the season and the
Diamondbacks’ bullpen barely hung on for a victory over the
Cardinals.
Chris Young added a two-run triple and David Hernandez earned
his fifth save in as many attempts as the stand-in closer for the
Diamondbacks.
Ian Kennedy (9-3) allowed three runs in six innings, matching
his career-best victory total from last season.
Brewers 8, Reds 7: Mark Kotsay hit a two-out, two-run single in
the ninth off Reds closer Francisco Cordero and the Brewers rallied
twice to beat Cincinnati for their third straight win.
In the ninth, Nyjer Morgan hit a one-out triple off Cordero
(3-2) to cut the lead to 7-6 but was thrown out at the plate on
Corey Hart’s fielder’s choice. Prince Fielder walked, Casey McGehee
hit an infield single and Kotsay ripped a hit to right for the
winner before being mobbed by McGehee on the base paths.
Dodgers 1, Padres 0: Chad Billingsley scattered four hits over
eight innings and Rafael Furcal singled in the go-ahead run in the
eighth to give the Dodgers a victory over the Padres.
Billingsley (8-7) struck out four and walked a season-high
five.
Mets 5, Giants 2: Pinch-hitter Scott Hairston hit a tiebreaking
home run off All-Star closer Brian Wilson in the ninth inning,
leading the Mets past the Giants.
Carlos Beltran and Nick Evans added RBIs in the inning to help
the Mets to their fifth victory in six games.
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