Pirates pound Puk in first major league start

MIAMI — Ke’Bryan Hayes had a single and an RBI double, and the Pittsburgh Pirates used another solid pitching outing to beat the Marlins 7-2 on Friday night.

Michael A. Taylor and Connor Joe also doubled for the Pirates, who beat the Marlins in front of 13,636 people at loanDepot park — a sharp decline in attendance from the crowd of 32,564 on opening day. Marlins games have typically been among the fewest-attended in MLB for years, but Thursday’s opening-day home crowd was Miami’s largest since 2016.

Starter Martín Pérez held the Marlins to one run through four innings, allowing six hits with two strikeouts and three walks in his Pirates debut.

Pérez, a 36-year-old left-hander, signed an $8 million, one-year deal with Pittsburgh after winning the World Series with Texas last November.

“I always say, they’re not perfect,” Pérez said of his pitches. “They’re going to miss. … I know it’s going to be a long season, and we just have to continue to pound the zone.”

Ryder Ryan (1-0) replaced Pérez in the fifth and pitched 1 innings of one-hit ball with two strikeouts. Josh Flemming limited Miami to one hit in the seventh and eighth before giving up back-to-back singles starting the ninth. He then retired Jonah Bride on a popout, and Christian Bethancourt and reigning NL batting champion Luis Arraez on groundouts.

Jake Burger drove in Miami’s first run with a single in the third that scored Arraez, who remains hitless in the series. Burger had his second straight multihit game, but the Marlins have been hurt by grounding into seven double plays this season.

“Any time we go out there we know the defense behind us is going to make plays,” Flemming said. “I think whenever we go out there we know who we are as pitchers. For me, I know I’m gonna get a lot of ground balls. And that’s what I’m looking for any time a guy gets on first base, I’m looking for a ground ball to try and get that double play.”

Miami’s A.J. Puk (0-1) struggled in his first big league start, giving up three hits, four runs and six walks in two innings. Puk went 7-5 in 58 relief appearances last season but was moved to the rotation because of injuries.