Braves’ James handcuffs Pirates
PITTSBURGH – Jason Bay had two words that quickly came to mind when asked about the Pirates’ sputtering offense on Saturday night. “Nothing. Terrible,” Bay said following a 9-2 loss to the Atlanta Braves at PNC Park.
“Nothing” described what Braves starter Chuck James gave to Pittsburgh, literally, through the first five innings, while “terrible” was the perfect adjective for the Pirates’ starting pitching and fielding on this night.
Tony Armas, Jr., couldn’t get out of the third inning and the Bucs made three errors.
Scott Thorman drove in five runs with a pair of home runs, and Willie Harris had four hits as the National League East-leading Braves improved to 24-12 while dropping the Pirates to a season-low five games under .500 at 15-20.
James took a perfect game into the sixth inning before Jose Bautista became Pittsburgh’s first baserunner with a lead-off walk. Jack Wilson also walked, but pinch-hitter Jose Castillo hit into a double play to kill the threat.
James’ no-hit bid was broken up by Bay’s line-drive single into left-center field with one out in the seventh. The left-hander also walked Ryan Doumit, but struck out Brad Eldred with two on to end the inning and his night. James allowed the one hit in seven innings with three walks and three strikeouts.
“Everyone wants to know what the magic potion is,” said Bay of the Bucs’ offense, sticking up for hitting coach Jeff Manto in the process. “It falls on the hitters.”
Bay didn’t believe the lineup shuffling of the past few games had much effect.
“It’s still the same guys in there,” Bay said. “We have to take it upon ourselves to take it personally and get things turned around.”
The Braves got all the runs James would need in the second inning on Thorman’s three-run homer to center field. Atlanta put up two more runs in the second, with the help of an error by second baseman Freddy Sanchez, to go up 5-0 and chase Armas in favor of Marty McCleary.
Armas was tagged for five runs (four earned) on seven hits in two-plus innings.
The Braves got another unearned run in the fourth when Bay misplayed a single by Kelly Johnson, allowing him to advance to second base, where he scored on Harris’ double.
“When your trying to get your offense untracked and you dig yourself an early 6-0, it compounds the problem,” Pirates manager Jim Tracy said.
Tracy talked with Pirates hitters for approximately 50 minutes before the game, but the meeting did little to stir up Pittsburgh’s lackluster offense.
“I didn’t see us get ourselves out much,” Tracy did offer on a positive note. “We miss-hit the ball.”
Atlanta made it 7-0 in the seventh when Andruw Jones doubled and scored on Jeff Francoeur’s single.
How bad was it for the Pirates and Tracy on this night?
After Bay’s single, Tracy pulled him in a double switch with pitcher Damaso Marte. Bay’s spot in the lineup came up with two men on and one out in the eighth inning and Pittsburgh down 7-2. A home run would’ve cut the deficit to two and gave the Bucs’ a ray of hope. Instead, Adam LaRoche pinch hit for Marte and smacked a 2-0 pitch into a rally-killing 4-6-3 double play.
The Pirates got their two runs earlier in the inning off reliever Chad Paronto. Bautista singled and scored on Wilson’s double. Pinch-hitter Nate McLouth singled Wilson to third, where he scored on Chris Duffy’s sacrifice fly. Sanchez singled to chase Paronto in favor of Moylan, who then got the twin-killing off LaRoche’s bat.
Thorman added a two-run homer in the ninth to cap the game’s scoring.