Pittsburgh Pirates win as Neil Walker joins Roberto Clemente in record with Opening Day Slam
The Pittsburgh Pirates were moving in for their first encounter of the 2011 Major League Baseball as they crossed paths with the hosts, Chicago Cubs, at Wrigley Field on Sunday, 3rd April. The team, possessing a second opening day winning statistic
looked nowhere near a win before the fifth. Fortunately, it was Neil Walker who came through. The Pittsburgh native second baseman, made history when he smashed a grand slam in the game putting the home side to shame.
Ryan Dempster had the unfortunate luck of facing Walker on the batter’s box. Perplexed by the action developing on the mound, his deliveries started to lose focus, which was one of the reasons why Walker was able to pull off the shot. The loaded bases were
another issue. Ryan Doumit had started the inning with a single. Ronny Cedeno, who had seen two strikes already, managed to pull off a walk. Pirates’ pitcher, Kevin Correia, then worked out a sacrifice bunt to put the others ahead on the diamond.
As Jose Tabata walked to the first base off Dempster’s second walk delivery, Walker came in to hit a grand slam that brought the Pirates back in the game. With a 0 – 2 score line before the inning, things looked different but as the score went up to 4 –
2, the situation took a somersault. Clint Hurdle was managing his first game of the season and he read the fixture well.
"Many times you'll see younger players get outside the strike zone or expand because they want to be
the guy," Hurdle said. "If the pitcher gives you a chance to be the guy, then you be the guy. But if he doesn't, put the bat down, get down the line and let the next guy be the guy."
Walker joins Hall of Fame, Roberto Clemente on top of the records with an Opening Day slam. Walker was astonished to learn that recently.
"That's obviously a tremendous honour," Walker said. "I feel very fortunate. This is a great group of guys in here. We would be real fortunate if we can have similar careers to guys back in that era."
With the Pirates off to a grand start, it will be important to see if they can maintain a consistent run. Their 6 – 3 victory on the first day will raise the expectations from the fans.
Tags: