Saturday, April 28, 2007
Starter Ian Snell delivers to the Reds' Brandon Phillips at PNC Park last night.
By Dejan Kovacevic
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
One game above .500.
Should be no big deal, not for any team in any sport, but Ian Snell and the Pirates were plenty happy to have it after silencing the Cincinnati Reds, 3-1, last night at PNC Park.
For Snell, his record finally moved to 2-1 after his seven scoreless innings lowered his ERA to 1.59, fourth-lowest in the National League.
Pirates right fielder Brad Eldred gets position on a Javier Valentin single in the seventh inning.
For the Pirates ...
Well, sit down for this: Their five-game winning streak has pushed their record to 11-10, the latest in a season they have been above .500 since May 29, 2004, when they were 23-22.
And, somehow, they have managed this despite a deficient offense and erratic work from their closer.
"It's scary," that closer, Salomon Torres, said after sweating through his seventh save. "At the same time, you can look at it as a blessing. As individuals, some of us, a lot of us -- myself included -- are not where we want to be. When we get there ..."
Torres wagged his finger.
"Look out for us."
"With the offense, it feels like we're right on the brink of breaking through," right fielder Brad Eldred said. "But, hey, it's a good thing to know we have this record and that we're still not playing up to our potential."
Manager Jim Tracy, perhaps recalling that his team was 5-16 at this point a year ago, expressed similar satisfaction.
"When your car has eight cylinders and only 4 1/2 of them are firing, and you're still finding ways to get to your destination, that's the sign of a pretty good ballclub," he said. "That's kind of where we're at right now. We've got some people who are still trying to figure some things out. In the meantime, we're doing things to put ourselves in a position to win."
Above all, of course, they are getting quality starting pitching. And none better than what Snell has produced in his five starts.
He was not a strikeout machine in this one, registering four against a generally poised Cincinnati lineup. But, relying heavily on a dynamic changeup, he still limited the Reds to six hits and two walks while never losing command.
"Ian threw all his pitches for strikes," Tracy said. "And, when he does that, the task becomes awfully difficult on the other side of the field."
No kidding. Snell has not allowed more than two runs or six hits in any of his five starts. And, with some support, he easily could have matched the 5-0 record of the Boston Red Sox's Josh Beckett, best in Major League Baseball.
Does that bug him?
"Sometimes, it does bother you," Snell said. "But that's baseball, and it happens. I understand it."
The Pirates got their offense early, as has become the trend of late, pouncing on Cincinnati starter Eric Milton in the first inning for a 3-0 lead.
Chris Duffy led off with an infield single, and Jack Wilson walked. One out later, Jason Bay doubled to left-center for two runs. He has nine RBIs in the past five games.
Eldred singled, and Adam LaRoche followed suit for another run.
Then, as Tracy would put it, "That was it. We're just not getting a lot of runs."
The Pirates' total of 77 runs and their .237 batting average each ranks second-lowest in the league. Even during this winning streak, they have averaged 4.4 runs and have a total of 13 extra-base hits.
That early fold brought about the other familiar trend, the one where the starter makes the flimsy lead hold up until the late innings, which Snell did until his pitch count reached 100 and, according to Tracy, "he started to show fatigue."
Damaso Marte put up another zero in the eighth, and Torres came on to boos from the 22,638 in attendance, many no doubt aware that he blew a save Wednesday, then nearly threw away a four-run lead the next day.
Those boos would blossom when Adam Dunn catapulted Torres' first pitch, a flat fastball, beyond the center-field seats to pull Cincinnati within 3-1.
And the din became deafening when, on Torres' next two pitches, Edwin Encarnacion's blast to left was caught at the wall by Bay and Javier Valentin's sharply struck single up the middle brought the tying run to the plate.
But Torres got Jeff Conine and Ryan Freel each to fly out to right, then pumped his right arm emphatically upon walking off the mound.
To hear him tell it, just about everything went by the plan.
"It wasn't pretty, but I'll take it," Torres said. "My problem has been that I haven't been aggressive enough and, so, I'm out there with a 3-0 lead, I'm going with my best stuff."
He said that attitude did not change after the Dunn blast.
"The next guy came up, and I'm thinking, 'Want to hit another one? Here, hit it.' I challenged everyone."
Tracy gave a hearty endorsement.
"The one thing Salomon did, there were a heck of a lot of strikes thrown," he said. "OK, fine, the guy hit a solo home run to start the inning. That's the starting point to get back to where he was at the beginning of the year. Go after people. Adam Dunn can't hit a three-run home run with nobody on base. I liked what he did."
Tonight, the Pirates will try for their first six-game winning streak since taking 10 in a row June 26-July 5, 2004.
(Dejan Kovacevic can be reached at dkovacevic@post-gazette.com.)
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