Richards strong; bunt beats Marlins

MIAMI — The numbers didn’t look appealing on the pitching line. But Marlins manager Don Mattingly insisted that Trevor Richards’ first two bigleague starts were “OK.”

Hardly a ringing endorsement for a young pitcher. But Richards was the Marlins Minor League Pitcher of the Year in 2017 and he impressed in spring training by allowing only one run in 12 innings.

That Richards showed up for the first time on the main stage Saturday at Marlins Park, and the result was a lot more than OK.

The right-hander was superb on a night when goose eggs dominated the scoreboard, holding a good-hitting Pirates lineup without a run and two hits for seven innings.

Unfortunately for Miami, the Marlins couldn’t find their way home either in a hard-luck 1-0 loss.

The Pirates scored the only run in the ninth inning on a bunt that Corey Dickerson popped up to the right of the mound over reliever Brad Ziegler for an unlikely run-scoring single.

That brought home Starling Marte, who reached on a bunt to the left of the mound, just beating Ziegler’s throw for a hit. Josh Bell followed with a hard-hit grounder to second that Starlin Castro couldn’t handle and was ruled a hit. That sent Marte to third and brought up Dickerson.

JB Shuck, who tied a team record with four hits in his Marlins debut on Friday, stranded runners on the corners in the eighth when he grounded out to second.

Richards will have to wait for his first big-league win, but he pitched well enough to earn one on most nights.

Richards stymied the Pirates, except for Francisco Cervelli, who had both hits. He had thrown only 82 pitches, but left for a pinch-hitter in a hittingstarved game reminiscent of the dead-ball era.

It was the second dazzling outing by a Marlins rookie this week after Jarlin Garcia held the Mets without a hit or run for six innings on Wednesday.

Richards came into his third start with 8.64 ERA, lasting no more than 4 1⁄3 innings in his previous outings against the Red Sox and Phillies. But he held his own Sunday in Philadelphia against Jake Arrieta in a game the Marlins won.

He was sharper than Pirates ace Jameson Taillon, who was coming off a onehit shutout against the Reds.

Taillon blanked the Marlins for six innings on four hits before exiting after 93 pitches.

Richards set the tone with an eight-pitch first inning and kept his pitch count low by staying around the zone and inducing early contact. He got nine outs on grounders, and few balls were struck hard.

Shuck held in check: After going 4-for-4 Friday, Shuck had a chance to become the first to record hits in his first five at-bats with the Marlins, but he couldn’t pull it off. He worked a walk on a full count in his first plate appearance Saturday.

Taillon got him to hit back to the mound for a force at second in the fourth, though he advanced a runner to third.