Pittsburgh Pirates Walk It Off in the 12th Inning, Beat Marlins 8-7

Following last night’s 9-2 victory, the Pittsburgh Pirates took on Trevor Rogers (1.87 ERA, 2.48 FIP) and the Marlins in an afternoon matchup today at PNC Park. After 12 innings of hard-fought ball the Pirates picked up the win in walk-off fashion

Coming into tonight’s ball game, the Pirates record sat at 22-34 through 56 games. Certainly not where the team would like to be record-wise but there has been a new energy amongst the club and fans alike now that rookie star Ke’Bryan Hayes has returned from his wrist injury. With Hayes healthy the Pirates have a very dangerous top of the order and they will look to do damage moving forward now with Hayes back in the #2 spot.

Chase De Jong makes his second start

Chase De Jong took the hill in today’s matchup following his impressive first performance in a Pirate uniform last Sunday but did not have similar results. De Jong threw 5 innings this afternoon, giving up 5 earned runs on 7 hits and 1 walk. He struck out 5 but it was the long ball that hurt him in this one as the Marlins went yard in both the 4th and 5th inning.

De Jong has allowed 6 earned runs through his first 10 innings as a Pirate and sports a 3:10 BB/K ratio but it has not been said what his future will hold as JT Brubaker has returned from the bereavement list.

Howard and Bednar strong in relief

Following De Jong’s departure after the fifth, Sam Howard was called upon out of the bullpen and was very solid in relief, tossing 26 of his 38 pitches for strikes. The RHP gave up one hit and struck out two in his two scoreless innings. Howard now sports a very solid 2.53 ERA and has been a mainstay in the Pirates impressive young bullpen.

David Bednar took over for Howard in the 8th and struck out two in a scoreless inning. Bednar struggled in his last appearance in Kansas City, giving up a run on two hits and a walk but settled down in this one to toss a clean inning. Bednar’s ERA now sits at 2.91 and he has shown signs of closer potential with his overpowering fastball.

Scoring Breakdown

The Pirates got things going offensively in the 2nd inning as Kevin Newman walked and was moved to second following a Ka’ai Tom bloop single to left. Pitcher Chase De Jong then stepped to the plate and laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt to move Newman and Tom to second and third. Adam Frazier then singled to left to give the Pirates a 2-0 lead.

Chase De Jong cruised through the first three frames but ran into trouble in the fourth as he surrendered a lead-off home run to Jesús Aguilar to cut the Pirates lead to one. Former Pirate Corey Dickerson then doubled and advanced to third following a Jorge Alfaro fly out to center. Marlins shortstop Jazz Chisholm Jr. then stepped to the plate and homered to right to give Miami a 3-2 lead.

The Bucs went down in order in the bottom half of the 4th inning and the Marlins were able to add to their lead in the 5th as Aguilar singled and Alfaro homered to center to give Miami a 5-2 lead.

Both teams were quiet offensively until the Pirates made some noise in the bottom of the 8th inning as Ke’Bryan Hayes doubled to left-center and Bryan Reynolds walked to put two runners on with no outs. Catcher Jacob Stallings popped out to second and pinch hitter Ben Gamel struck out swinging before Gregory Polanco reached via an infield single to shortstop to load the bases.

The Marlins called upon RHP Anthony Bender out of the bullpen following Polanco’s at-bat and he walked Kevin Newman and hit Ka’ai Tom to cut the Pirates’ deficit to one. With the bases loaded and the pitcher’s spot due up, manager Derek Shelton sent Michael Perez in to pinch-hit. Perez pulled a pitch to first base and it appeared to be the end of the inning but Bender dropped the throw from Aguilar at first and Polanco and Newman came around to score to give the Pirates a 6-5 lead heading into the 9th inning.

With a one-run lead in the ninth inning closer Richard Rodríguez was called upon but he could not pick up the save in this one. Magneuris Sierra began the inning with a single to center and Starling Marte walked before Rodríguez was able to pick up the first out via a line-out to center. Following the line-out, however, Jesús Aguilar lined his fourth hit of the day to left field to tie the game at 6.

The Pirates went down in order in the bottom half of the ninth inning and the game headed to extra innings.

Extra Innings

Manager Derek Shelton went to Kyle Crick in the 10th inning and he was able to get lead-off man Chisholm Jr. to ground out to first but that put the go-ahead run 90 feet away. Marlins’ second baseman Isan Diaz stepped to the plate and hit a sacrifice fly to right field to give Miami a 7-6 lead.

In the bottom half of the inning, the Pirates had the 5-6-7 spots due up to face Marlins’ reliever Yimi García. Jacob Stallings made the final out of the ninth inning so he began the inning on second base and advanced to third following a Ben Gamel ground out to second. Gregory Polanco drove in Stallings via a sacrifice fly to center to tie the game at 7 but the Pirates couldn’t do any further damage and the game headed to the top of the 11th.

Kyle Crick remained in the game and walked the leadoff man before getting Starling Marte to ground into a double play. With the go-ahead run on third, Crick struck out José Devers to keep the game tied at 7 heading into the bottom half of the 11th.

Kevin Newman made the final out of the 10th inning and therefore began the 11th inning on second base but did not stay there for long as Marlin’s pitcher John Curtiss’ first pitch got away from catcher Jorge Alfaro, allowing Newman to advance to third base with no outs. Ka’ai Tom struck out swinging and the Pirates were forced to pinch-hit JT Brubaker who grounded out to Cutiss as manager Shelton had no bench-bats remaining. Adam Frazier then fouled out to third to end the inning.

Clay Holmes was called upon in the 12th inning and was able to retire the red-hot Aguilar via a flyout to right field. Pinch hitter Jon Berti then grounded out to third and Alfaro flew out to right to give the Pirates an opportunity to walk it off in the bottom half of the inning.

They did just that.

With Adam Frazier at second, Ke’Bryan Hayes flew out to the warning track in center to advance Frazier to third. The Marlins intentionally walked Bryan Reynolds to put runners at first and third with one out. Jacob Stallings stepped to the plate and delivered a line-drive single to center field to give the Pirates a much-deserved 8-7 victory.

The Pirates have now won three in a row since the return of Ke’Bryan Hayes and things may be looking up for the club as first baseman Colin Moran and utility man Phillip Evans are nearing their returns.

What’s Next?

Chad Kuhl (6.41 ERA, 6.75 FIIP) will make his second start since being activated from the IL due to a shoulder injury and will take on RHP Sandy Alcantara (3.68 ERA, 3.66 FIP) and the Marlins in tomorrow afternoon’s series finale. First pitch is scheduled for 1:05 PM ET.