Pittsburgh Pirates defeat Baltimore Orioles 9-3 – MLB Update
Pittsburgh Pirates bounced back to defeat the Baltimore Orioles 9-3 at PNC Park, Pittsburgh on Tuesday, June 21.
The victory could not have come at a more auspicious occasion as the Pirates also celebrated the World Series title they won in 1971 on the same day.
While the Pirates’ offence was deservingly well-placed to perform, the defence displayed an equally praiseworthy show as they had lost their previous game by a big margin of 8-3, which also happened to be the series’ first game.
The worrying moment for the defence was the fifth inning when the Pirates’ starter James McDonald gave up four hits and three runs. That threw the team in jitters owing to the vulnerability of the team to strong offence.
However, manager Clint Hurdle had an explanation for that and said, "All these guys have pitched a lot of innings in the last week and pitched extremely well and it (was) time on offense that we gave them a little breathing room.”
The Pirates had a relatively fast start on Tuesday as Garrett Jones hit a two-run homer in the very first inning followed by the single of Neil Walker that gave an early 3-0 lead to the team.
"We're not a team that is going to hit three-run homers all the time," McCutchen said. "We've got to play small ball. Regardless of where we are in the lineup, where I am in the lineup, I'm going to continue to play the game the right way."
Jose Tabata scored a single in the second inning to take the lead to 4-0 after James McDonald pitched two consecutive scoreless innings. Xavier Paul hit a sacrifice fly to right in the third to give the valuable fifth run lead to the Pirates.
McDonald who pitched for consecutive scoreless innings was subject to four hits in the fifth inning. J. J. Hardy homered to left to score the first run for the Orioles followed by Adam Jones who hit a two-run homer to bring the Pirates lead down to 5-3.
However, the Pirates’ defence remained virtually invulnerable from the fifth inning onwards, emboldened by an equally ruthless offence.
Tabata scored a single followed by Neil Walker’s two-run homer in the eighth inning to pile up the lead to 9-3 against the now straining Orioles’ defence. Tim Wood then pitched a shut-out ninth inning to secure a safe 9-3 win for the Pirates.
The three-game series now stands tied by 1-1 whose last game will be played on Wednesday. It will be an exciting game as the Pirates are showing tremendous form and the Orioles will be looking to put in a good performance and earn a victory.
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