“We thought his game plan wasn’t going to change. “He throws a lot of strikes, and he has really good stuff,” Suwinski said. Eovaldi worked his four-seam fastball off his splitter, generating 31 swings and 14 whiffs between the two pitches. “Normally, if that gets called, it gets called from the first-base umpire.”Įovaldi, by comparison, completed the fourth on five pitches and the fifth on six and got the Pirates to ground into double plays in both innings. “I was a little surprised that the home plate umpire called it with that angle,” Shelton said. After Robbie Grossman singled to put runners on the corners with one out, the Pirates replaced Hill with lefty reliever Jose Hernandez and Jung scored on another balk to make it 5-1. The Rangers took advantage in the sixth, when Lowe drew a leadoff walk, Garcia doubled to left and Jung drove in both with a single to center for a 4-1 lead. But it came at a cost, as Hill’s pitch count through five innings was at 83. Hill became the 12th pitcher to record nine or more strikeouts at age 43 or older and the first since Randy Johnson in 2009. “We gave up a run early because we lost the ball in the sun, and if not for the balk, we’re in a pretty good spot. Hill got Josh Jung to ground out to third to escape the jam. Hill (4-4) retired eight consecutive batters, including four consecutive by strikeout, before giving up a single to Lowe and a double to Garcia in the third. The Pirates challenged the call but lost, which cost them a run when McCutchen drew a walk and Reynolds followed with an RBI double to center to cut it to 2-1. Ji Hwan Bae led off the third with a single to left but was picked off by Eovaldi at first base. But the Pirates stranded McCutchen as Eovaldi got a pair of pop-ups to end the inning. In the bottom of the first, Andrew McCutchen hit a leadoff double, tying him with Paul Goldschmidt for fifth among active players with 398, and advanced to third on Bryan Reynolds’ groundout to first. We came back and made it at 2-1 game, and we just didn’t add on at all.” “We have to move past that,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said of the mishaps. Seager advanced to second on Nathaniel Lowe’s walk, tagged to third when Adolis Garcia popped up in foul territory to first baseman Carlos Santana, who made a catch against the netting and scored when Hill was called for a balk with an 0-2 count against Johan Heim. Semien scored when Corey Seager grounded to short and beat Tucupita Marcano’s backhanded jump-throw to first for a single. So you’ve got to pick one, the top or the bottom.” “The sun was right above the the top of the stadium, and it’s behind it. Suwinski, wearing sunglasses, lost track of the ball in the sun and missed diving for it in the shadow of the stadium. The Rangers took a 2-0 lead in the first inning, as Marcus Semien hit a fly ball to center that bounced past Jack Suwinski to the wall and was scored a triple. Twice, Ji Hwan Bae singled only to be picked off by the Rangers, with one costing the Pirates a run. Twice, the Pirates gave up runs when a balk was called with a runner on third base. So you’ve got to hold yourself to a higher standard and you’ve got to be able to execute pitches throughout the entire game to be able to give the team the opportunity to win.” I think if you want to look at it as a good outing, fair outing or whatever, in my mind that’s not a championship mindset. “Coming out of that game at a 4-1 deficit late in the game, that’s not putting us in a position to win. “You can look at strikeouts or whatever but, at the end of the day, it’s the score,” Hill said. Where Eovaldi (6-2) allowed one run on six hits and one walk while striking out five on 104 pitches (71 strikes), Hill was tagged for five runs on seven hits and two walks on 98 pitches in 5 1/3 innings. That Nathan Eovaldi tossed a complete game as the Rangers beat the Pirates, 6-1, on Tuesday night before 12,061 at PNC Park only made Hill more upset with his performance.
TWOMON REVIEW GAMES FULL
On a night the 43-year-old left-hander recorded nine strikeouts, Hill took full responsibility for the three-run sixth inning that allowed the Rangers to turn a one-run game into a runaway victory.
Even though the Pittsburgh Pirates struggled from the start against the Texas Rangers, Rich Hill wasn’t in the mood to make excuses or shift blame to anyone or anything else.
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