Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Pirates starter Tom Gorzelanny pitched seven innings last night, allowing five hits with no runs against the Marlins at PNC Park. The Pirates won 7-0.
By Dejan Kovacevic
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
At some point, perhaps soon, Tom Gorzelanny's name will be on the tip of the National League's collective tongue.
It would seem that has not happened yet.
Minutes after Gorzelanny's seven shutout innings sparked the Pirates to a 7-0 silencing of Florida last night at PNC Park, a few in the Marlins' clubhouse needed a little help in identifying him correctly.
"You've just got to tip your hat to ... I want to say his name, Gorzelanny?" Florida ace Dontrelle Willis said after taking a tough loss. "He did a great job today. It was his night."
"We're not scoring any runs," Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez said, bemoaning his slumping lineup. "We had a chance there, and he ... uh, how do you pronounce his name?"
For the record, it is GORE-zuh-LAWN-ey.
And anyone interested in learning more about him should check the league's pitching leaders, especially among left-handers: His record is 5-2, tied with Willis, the Milwaukee Brewers' Chris Capuano and the Philadelphia Phillies' Cole Hamels for most victories by a southpaw, and his 2.36 ERA is second to none.
The Pirates' Jose Castillo high fives teammate Chris Duffy after they both came home for runs six and seven respectively against the Florida Marlins last night at PNC Park.
In fact, it ranks seventh among all pitchers -- left or right -- in Major League Baseball.
There is more: Gorzelanny has gone seven innings in each of his past three starts and been charged with a total of three runs. All but one of his eight starts have met the quality standard of six innings and three runs or less. And he has struck out 34 while walking 13, including five and zero last night, respectively.
"Tom Gorzelanny has pitched terrific all year," Pirates manager Jim Tracy said. "He's throwing three pitches for strikes, hitting quality spots ... it's tough to deal with pitchers like that."
As tough as any lefty in the league right now?
"No doubt," reliever John Grabow said. "He's got a great fastball, a good slider, a curveball and a changeup. He's mixing his pitches, and he's got deception, too. If you've got all that going for you from the left side, you can be pretty dominating."
"The numbers speak for themselves," first baseman Ryan Doumit said. "You look at his track record, and he did that every year in the minor leagues. What's to keep him from doing it up here?"
Gorzelanny, 24, was starring in the minors at this time last year, actually, but he has carried that success into majors without a hitch: He was promoted in July and, after a bit of settling in, his ERA from July 23 until now is 2.43 over 16 starts.
Still, he appears to be keeping a level head.
"I'll say this all year: This is my first full season in the bigs," Gorzelanny said. "I'm doing well, and I'm feeling happy about that. But the main thing is that there's still more work to be done. I've still got a long way to go. I'm far from established."
And the pressure that might come from performing so well?
"I'm not going to worry about what anyone says or what the stats are. I'm going to go out there every fifth day and try to win a ball game."
That is something Willis has done with regularity, of course, and this season is no exception, given his 5-3 record. But it was clear from the outset that he would need to pitch with pinpoint precision to match Gorzelanny.
As Willis put it, "I knew it was going to be competitive."
He was right: The Marlins would muster only five hits off Gorzelanny -- all singles -- and six baserunners, only two of those getting as far as second.
The Pirates nicked Willis for two runs in his six innings. One came in the first when Jack Wilson walked, took third on Freddy Sanchez's double and scored on Jason Bay's forceout. The other came in the sixth on Ronny Paulino's fourth home run, an 0-2 slider he launched into the bullpens beyond left-center for a 2-0 lead.
Two batters later came an even more momentous hit, in some ways: Gorzelanny finally snapped his career drought at the plate at 0 for 36 by squibbing a ball through the left side.
That drew a standing ovation from the 12,958 on hand and plenty of good-natured razzing in the dugout.
"Yeah, but it's great," Gorzelanny said. "I'll be able to tell my grandkids I got my first hit off Dontrelle Willis."
There would be more fun from there as the Pirates added five in the eighth off the Florida bullpen: Jose Castillo's double to the base of the fence in center drove in two runs, Chris Duffy's suicide squeeze -- with Paulino sprinting from third, no less -- brought another, and Sanchez capped a 4-for-4 night with a two-run liner to center.
For Castillo, filling in for injured Jose Bautista, it was his first RBI and a rare show of upbeat emotion when he reached second base.
"I was so excited," he said. "It's been a long time without playing. This felt good."
Matt Capps and Salomon Torres completed the shutout, the Pirates' second of the season, and the team had its first back-to-back victories since April 26-27.
(Dejan Kovacevic can be reached at dkovacevic@post-gazette.com.)
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