“It seemed everybody we started with a strike to, we followed up with a ball or two balls or three balls”.
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Josh Harrison tripled to lead off the bottom of the ninth and raced home on the overthrow to third base as the Pirates walked off on the Brewers, 3-2, at PNC Park. Harrison rounded second base and dove into third.
But Melancon’s ninth inning adventure wasn’t the only close call for the Pirates.
Taillon was making his return start from his stint on the disabled list for a shoulder injury.
Milwaukee’s Hernan Perez hit a 105 miles per hour line drive off the back of Taillon’s head with one out in the second inning.
Quickly, Pittsburgh’s head athletic trainer Todd Tomczyk arrived on the mound with fellow trainer Ben Potenziano.
The Pirates lost their manager for the game at the very beginning. The Pirates have a number of off days coming up and won’t, or shouldn’t start him; they’ll be able to get to the trade deadline without him starting, and hopefully they’ll be able to rely on better talent after that. But going to bed feeling extremely lucky. The Pirates will try to push their winning streak to three straight and clinch a series win when they host the Milwaukee Brewers in the second of a three-game series on Wednesday.The Pirates have totaled six runs in their last four games, and one of those contests lasted 18 innings. Jonathan Lucroy, Chris Carter and Scooter Gennett would combine to drive in seven RBI’s, while Ryan Braun finished 2-for-4 and plated three runs in the victory. David Freese looped a soft single to right field and Francisco Cervelli’s fly to left easily scored McCutchen to give Taillon an early lead.
The baseball came off the bat at 105mph (169kmh) according to Statcast, and deflected off the back of Taillon’s head and into left field.
The second overall pick in the 2010 draft entered the game 2-1 with a 3.86 ERA in five starts this season. Locke is 5-5 with a 3.76 ERA in 13 career starts against the Brewers.
Pirates: RF Gregory Polanco went 0 for 3 with a walk and a run scored while showing no ill effects from a sore left hamstring that kept him sidelined since July 8. He had a.107 average with one home run and four RBIs.
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Zachary covers the Pirates for Pittsburgh Sporting News.
