After striking out 17 times in the first game of the season, the Pittsburgh Pirates decided it was better not to swing at the Miami Marlins.
The Pirates were willing to wait and see if A.J. Puk, who went from being a closer to a starter, could throw strikes. The 6-foot-7 left-hander had trouble doing so consistently. Last season, Puk only allowed 13 walks, two of which were intentional. However, this time, he gave free passes to six of the first 13 batters he faced.
Taking advantage of Puk’s command issues, the Pirates drew a bases-loaded walk to take an early lead, then used well-timed hitting to defeat the Marlins 7-2 on Friday night at loanDepot park.
Left-hander Martin Perez, who signed an $8 million contract for one year, limited the Marlins to one run on six hits and three walks in his Pirates debut. He threw 86 pitches in 4 1/3 innings. Ryder Ryan allowed one hit in 1 2/3 innings, and Josh Fleming (1-0) secured the win after pitching the final three innings.
After turning three double plays in the first game, the Pirates turned four more against the Marlins. This was the first time since at least 1900 that they turned at least three double plays in each of the first two games of the season, and the first time any MLB team did so since the New York Mets in 2007.
In the second inning, the Pirates took a 1-0 lead. Edward Olivares and Henry Davis started with walks, then Oneil Cruz singled to left to load the bases, and Jared Triolo drew a five-pitch walk to score Olivares for the 1-0 lead.
Michael A. Taylor hit a sacrifice fly to left to score Davis and make it 2-0, but Cruz tried to tag from second and was thrown out at third by Bryan De La Cruz for a double play. Puk got Connor Joe to ground out to end the inning but used up 47 pitches.
The Pirates began the third inning with Bryan Reynolds drawing a full-count walk, then scoring from first when Ke’Bryan Hayes hit a double down the third-base line to make it 3-0. Hayes advanced to third on a wild pitch, and Andrew McCutchen drew a walk to put runners on the corners with no outs.
After Olivares singled to right to bring in Hayes, giving the Pirates a 4-0 lead, the Marlins replaced Puk. He had given up four runs on three hits and six walks, with only 33 of his 68 pitches being strikes. Bryan Hoeing prevented further damage in the inning.
In the third inning, the Marlins scored when Luis Arraez came in from second on Jake Burger’s single to left, reducing the score to 4-1. De La Cruz singled to load the bases, but Perez got Jazz Chisholm Jr. to ground out to first, preventing further scoring.
After Josh Bell hit a double to right with one out, third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes made his second error of the game by overthrowing first on a Burger hit. Right-hander Ryan took Perez's place and struck out De La Cruz and Chisholm to end another scoring threat.
Hoeing, who pitched four innings in relief, retired eight consecutive batters before Taylor drew a two-out walk in the sixth and scored on a double to right by Connor Joe to give the Pirates a 5-1 lead.
The Pirates added another run in the seventh inning when Hayes singled, Davis singled, and Cruz's pop fly dropped in front of De La Cruz, allowing Hayes to score and stretch the lead to 6-1.
In the eighth inning, Joe and Reynolds hit consecutive singles, putting runners on first and third for Hayes, who then hit a sacrifice fly to right field, making it 7-1.
The Marlins started the ninth inning with consecutive singles by Tim Anderson and Avisail Garcia, and both advanced to scoring position after a wild pitch by Fleming. Anderson scored on Christian Bethancourt’s groundout, making it 7-2 and ending the bullpen’s scoreless streak at 10 innings.
