By JOHN PERROTTO
jperrotto@piratesreport.com
PITTSBURGH
July 02, 2009 11:29 pm
—
There were plenty of twists and turns to Thursday afternoon’s game at PNC Park, along with two rain delays.
When it was over, the Pirates had suffered one of their most difficult defeats of the season as they dropped a 9-8 decision in 10 innings to the New York Mets.
The Pirates took a 5-0 lead, but starter Paul Maholm squandered it as the Mets rallied to go ahead 8-5. However, the Pirates rallied to force extra innings as Garrett Jones’ solo home run in the seventh made it a two-run game before Adam LaRoche’s two-run homer in the ninth off closer Francisco Rodriguez (2-2) tied it.
The Pirates, though, left two runners on base in the ninth in the most frustrating of fashion as Brandon Moss lined out hard to second baseman Luis Castillo. The Mets then won the game in the 10th on Ryan Church’s two-out RBI single off Matt Capps (1-4).
“It’s a tough one to take,” LaRoche said quietly as he dressed for the Pirates’ nine-game road trip that begins tonight at Florida and leads into the All-Star break.
“You hit a ball 200 mph and get nothing to show for it with the game on line, it’s a tough one to swallow.”
LaRoche wasn’t talking about his home run, which was impressive enough as it was the first game-tying shot Rodriguez had allowed since serving one up to Baltimore’s Kevin Millar last July 25 when he was still pitching for the Los Angeles Angels. Instead, LaRoche was talking about the ball Moss scalded with two outs and runners on the corners.
“You can’t hit a ball any harder than that,” LaRoche said. “He hit it right on the screws, but right at the guy’s head. He had to catch it out of self-defense.”
The Mets then put together their winning rally in the 10th as Fernando Tatis hit a two-out single, stole second and scored on Church’s single to center as Andrew McCutchen’s throw sailed to the backstop.
Maholm, though, felt the game should have never gotten to extra innings as he squandered the big early lead by giving up six runs and 11 hits in 41/3 innings.
“Not being able to hold a 5-0 lead is pathetic,” he said. “The Mets made adjustments and I didn’t. I kept throwing thigh-high fastballs right down the middle of the plate and they kept crushing them.”
The start of the game was delayed a half-hour and there was a 42-minute delay during the top of the first inning, after Maholm had faced just three batters.
However, he vehemently denied the delays affected him.
“No effect whatsoever. None,” he said.
Maholm was chased during a four-run fifth that put the Mets ahead 6-5. Tatis’ two-run homer off Jeff Karstens an inning later pushed the lead to 8-5.
However, Jones’ first homer with the Pirates cut the deficit to two runs in the seventh. Jones came within a single of hitting for the cycle as he doubled, tripled and homered in his second game with the Pirates after being called up from Class AAA Indianapolis on Tuesday when left fielder Nyjer Morgan was traded to Washington.
Robinzon Diaz also had three hits for the Pirates.
“It felt really good to contribute, and I was really happy with my at-bats,” Jones said. “Still, we lost a game in pretty tough fashion, so it’s hard to feel too good about it.”
LaRoche put the Pirates in position to win with his home run off Rodriguez, who blew just his third save in 24 opportunities this season after setting the major-league record with 62 saves last year.
“In that situation, I’m just looking to hit a ball in the air and avoid a double play,” LaRoche said. “He throws a lot of breaking balls, a lot of (sliders), but he threw me a changeup and hung it, and I was able to get a good swing on it.”
The Pirates put a lot of good swings on Mets starter Tim Redding, who was tagged for five runs and six hits in 21/3 innings.
The Pirates opened the scoring with a three-run second as Diaz had an RBI single, McCutchen was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and Jack Wilson hit a sacrifice fly. They then made it 5-0 in the third when Jones tripled in a run and scored on Diaz’s double.
“I liked the way we battled back,” Pirates manager John Russell said. “It’s a tough game to lose, but I liked how our guys didn’t fold.”
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