Bats silent at home after trip
Marquez (8 innings), bullpen shut out Pirates on just three hits
It’s hard to describe the Pirates’ recent road trip as anything other than a smashing success. They won seven of 11 games. They hit 13 home runs and scored 49 runs, an average of 4.5 per game. Josh Bell was named the National League’s player of the week.
Back at PNC Park for the first time since May 8, the Pirates’ bats suffered from some sort of jet lag, as they managed just three hits against Colorado Rockies starter German Marquez in a 5-0 loss on Tuesday night.
“He got us,” Colin Moran said of Marquez, who struck out seven and walked one. “We just have to bounce back [Wednesday]. That’s all you can do.”
The loss dropped the Pirates to 24-21, snapping their three-game winning streak. It marks the first time they’ve been shut out since April 25.
As strange as it might be from the Pirates’ standpoint, their inability to generate offense was equally as baffling from the Colorado perspective.
Rockies starters began Tuesday last in the National League in earned run average (5.64), batting average against (.276), WHIP (1.45) and tied for last in home runs allowed (47).
On Sunday, their startof-the-season ace, Kyle Freeland, couldn’t make it out of the second inning, beat around the park by the Philadelphia Phillies.
On Tuesday, Marquez cruised, the biggest threat coming in the fifth when the Pirates got a pair of runners on. Marquez proceeded to strike out Cole Tucker and got pinch hitter Kevin Newman to fly out to right.
“He’s really good,” Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. “He has five pitches and probably used four of them in some type of sequence [Tuesday]. He was sharp.”
That’s probably not how many would describe Chris Archer’s start for the Pirates, although he did feel it was a step in the right direction.
Archer, who last time out allowed seven runs and recorded just 11 outs, saw his control wane at times, specifically when he walked back-to-back hitters in the fourth. Overall, though, Archer was mostly
pleased.
“I felt way better,” Archer said. “If I could have made a couple pitches, some key pitches, the outlook of the game might have been a little different. But looking at the bright side, it’s a step in the right direction.”
It’s easy to see how Archer might feel that way, as he did have pretty decent stuff. Had the Pirates not needed a pinch-hitter in the fifth, Hurdle said Archer would’ve gotten a shot at the sixth.
Archer and the Pirates, though, encountered problems during key sequences in the game, their importance amplified because of the slim margin for error they left themselves.
Rockies first baseman Daniel Murphy led off the second inning with a double, moved to third on a fielder’s choice and got caught in a rundown when catcher Tony Walters bounced a ball to first base.
Bell made the right play and threw home. Francisco Cervelli chased Murphy back to third, but the execution broke down when Cervelli’s throw — too late and not in a lane where Moran could handle it — bounced off Murphy’s helmet and trickled away.
“We didn’t keep a visible lane for the throw,” Hurdle said. “The distance got too short. It was a quick throw that I don’t think Moran got a good look at. We did not execute the rundown very well.”
Colorado stretched its lead to 2-0 in the third inning when shortstop Trevor Story led off with a home run, Archer’s twoseamer catching too much of the plate.
Story turned on it and cranked it to left, where Bryan Reynolds jumped and nearly caught the ball. The would-be highlight came apart when the ball ticked off Reynolds’ glove and went into the stands.
The up-and-down outing for Archer reached its nadir in the fourth inning, as the right-hander issued back-to-back walks on a total of nine pitches.
Right fielder Charlie Blackmon drove in two with his triple to the North Side Notch.
“Giving up hits, giving up the homer, that’s one thing,” Archer said. “Throwing eight straight [balls] is something that you can’t do in the big leagues. Teams are going to take advantage.”