Pittsburgh Pirates Extend Win Streak to 5, Beat Marlins 5-1

82. 5. 4. Final. 1

The Pittsburgh Pirates got their fifth win in a row and another good start from the starting rotation as Jeff Locke gave up just four hits over five and two-thirds innings in a 5-1 win over the Marlins last night. It was promising to see Locke limit a talented albeit struggling Miami team to just four hits and no runs. The four walks that he issued helped raise his pitch count which may have contributed to the early hook in the sixth inning, but it was still a good outing for Locke.

Jung Ho Kang

got the scoring started in the first when he drove the first pitch he saw up the middle to score

Josh Harrison

. In the second inning, Harrison doubled in

Jordy Mercer

and then

Neil Walker

blasted a two-run opposite field home run to give the Pirates a 4-0 lead.

In the fifth, the Marlins were set up in the shift against Pedro Alvarez, and he knocked a ball to where the shortstop should have been that plated Starling Marte, making it 5-0. The quickest way Alvarez can get the defense to stop shifting is to do what he did tonight, so it will be interesting to see if the Marlins perhaps pull back on that in today’s contest.

Locke was pulled with two outs in the sixth inning with a pitch count over 100 and Jared Hughes came in and finished the inning with a ground out. Rob Scahill was brought in for the seventh and did not have his best control, issuing a wild pitch and a passed ball by Francisco Cervelli. This allowed Dee Gordon to advance to third and ultimately score on Martin Prado‘s two-out hit.

Arquimedes Caminero pitched a clean eight and ninth inning, striking out two batters and allowing no base runners to move the Pirates to 23-22 this season.

What Stood Out

While Locke did not finish the sixth inning, he still turned in a fairly strong outing. He wasn’t particularly sharp, giving up four walks, but luckily he did not make any mistakes that would doom him. Things got a little dicey in the sixth inning when he gave up a long drive to left-center by J.T. Realmuto, but the speedy Andrew McCutchen tracked it down. Hopefully Locke will build on last night’s success in his next outing.

Jung Ho Kang also deserves to be mentioned as he continues to hit well and play strong defense, last night at third base. He made a number of difficult plays in the game, in particular, the slow roller hit by Dee Gordon that he fielded cleanly and threw to Pedro Alvarez.