Pittsburgh Pirates’ debutant Starling Marte homers on his first pitch – MLB Update
First baseman Starling Marte made an impressive debut as the Pittsburgh Pirate edged Houston Astros 5-3 at Minute Maid Park in Houston, Texas in the opening game of their four match series of the 2012 Major League Baseball regular season.
Marte looked extremely comfortable on the mound in his first ever MLB game. Showing his composure, class and temperament, the right hander connected for a home-run on his 1st at bat, sending a strong message across the National League Central Division.
"I was serious," Marte said in Spanish through an interpreter. "I was pretty confident."
The 23-year-old had no words to explain how he felt on Thursday night.
"It's a lot," he said. "My emotions are running high right now. It's hard to describe how I'm feeling. It's very emotional."
It is pretty obvious that Marte is perfectly comfortable with his new role after he sent the first pitch he faced deep into the crowd.
It will not be wrong to say that he played a key role in Pirates’ win on Thursday as his home-run in the first inning put the Astros under immense pressure, giving the Pirates some early momentum.
"That was a swing that touched a lot of people," Manager Clint Hurdle said.
With his mighty hit against Astros’ starting pitcher Dallas Keuchel, Marte also became only the third player in franchise’s history to hit a home-run on his first pitch.
No Pirates’ hitter has achieved such a feat since Don Leppert did it in 1961. It will be interesting to see if Marte can continue his excellent form over the next couple of months to lead his side to the playoffs.
"I figured he'd take a strike to see what I got; I never thought he would hit a homer on the first pitch of the game," Keuchel said in a post game interview.
Pirates’ starting pitcher A.J. Burnett pitched with great control and accuracy for his 12thwin of the season. He gave up just four hits and two runs with five strike-outs in seven plus effective inning to give the Pirates a crucial 1-0 series
lead.
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