Good pitching beats good hitting
PITTSBURGH — There’s an old adage in baseball that good pitching always beats good hitting.
If you don’t agree with it, then you weren’t watching the Pirates’ 5-4 victory over the Tigers in Pittsburgh’s home opener at PNC Park on Monday afternoon.
Detroit entered the game unbeaten at 6-0 and as the best-hitting squad in the major leagues with a team average of .355. They had scored 47 runs, their most this early in the season since 1929, and were pushing across 7.8 runs a game.
The Tigers have been flashing early speed also with 10 steals, tied for the most in baseball.
But, you can’t steal if you can’t get on base.
Pirates starter Gerrit Cole made sure of that.
The Bucs’ young ace dominated Detroit’s potent lineup for the first six frames, allowing only a second-inning single and a fifth-inning walk. He struck out eight, including four in a row at one point.
The last one in that sequence was against the red-hot hitting Miguel Cabrera, who entered the game with a .520 average. In a titantic battle, Cabrera fouled off three 3-2 pitches before Cole got him swinging.
Cole showed again that he is developing into one of the game’s top starting pitchers.
“He was really good today,” Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said of his 24-year-old right-hander. “That’s a lineup that’s playing as big as any lineup in the major leagues right now from top to bottom.
“He used both sides of the plate. The fastball command makes him dynamic because then the other pitches just play, whether it’s an 84-mile-an-hour hook, an 89-mile-an-hour slider … the change-up goes into play as well.
“One of the things he wants to be is a master craftsman out on the mound and you saw that today.”
Though he looked calm on the mound, Cole admitted he had some pregame jitters with 39,933 fans looking on.
“There were some butterflies early for sure before the game,” Cole said. “They’re hot. There’s a lot of emotion coming into the game, a lot of excitement. Luckily I was able to calm those down.”
Location was the key against the Tigers’ powerful offense, according to Cole.
“For the most part we stayed down and just tried to work the ball in and out and that seemed to work for us today,” Cole said.
A.J. Burnett, who returned to the Pirates this year after a one-year stint in Philadelphia, was impressed with Cole.
“He was in control,” Burnett said. “His body composure told me everything. I knew he was going to have a good start.
“I have to go tomorrow and one-up him.”
Pirate fans showed they appreciate good pitching as they gave Burnett a loud ovation when he was introduced before the game.
“It was louder than I expected,” Burnett said. “I enjoy every bit of it. I thank everyone for it. Words can’t describe a feeling like that, coming back and having that applause, so I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”
It was Cole’s show on Monday, though … until the seventh inning.
The Tigers finally mounted a threat, loading the bases with none out and chasing Cole in the process.
Enter Jared Hughes in the role he’s excelled in.
“He was our go-to guy with men on base last year,” Hurdle said of the middle reliever, “and he’s got the weaponry to do it. His slider has developed.”
Hughes induced a double-play grounder from Nick Castellanos and then a pop foul from left-handed hitting Alex Avila to end the threat with only one run scoring.
“We needed a ground ball, we needed two outs with one pitch and he was able to do that,” Hurdle said. “And then make a quality pitch to beat a good hitter right after that to get out of the inning.”
“That was a hell of a job by him,” Cole said.
Hughes got a thunderous roar from the fans as he walked off the mound, which he appreciated.
“I love it,” Hughes said. “I love it when the crowd’s behind us like that. After getting that final out and this huge roar coming up from the stadium, everything is shaking … it’s pretty awesome.”
It wasn’t a matter of blocking everything out, more just the opposite, according to Hughes.
“You have to know the situation,” said the right-hander. “With the bases loaded you just have to pitch aggressively, get ahead in the count. That is what I was planning on doing because that’s when you have the odds in your favor as a pitcher. I wanted to go out there and throw strike one. He swung. He knew I was going to come with a strike. I got the ground ball, they made a great play back there.
“Then the next hitter it kind of changes. You have a lefty up with first base open so you don’t want to give him anything too good to hit. We ended up getting a pop fly.
“It worked out.”
As it often does for the guy on the mound when good pitching faces good hitting.