Friday, June 08, 2007
Freddy Sanchez throws to first after forcing out the Washington Nationals' Dmitri Young at second in the fourth inning yesterday at RFK Stadium in Washington. Nationals' Austin Kearns was safe at first.
By Dejan Kovacevic, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
WASHINGTON -- The ball was a laser off Jason Bay's bat, struck so solidly that it formed a straight line sailing across RFK Stadium's mammoth outfield.
And the Pirates wanted, desperately, for it to stay that straight.
"Just stay up," first baseman Adam LaRoche remembered thinking from the on-deck circle. "Worst case, it's a double. But come on ... stay up."
Bay thought much the same.
"I didn't know if I got it up high enough with this big ballpark," he recalled. "Maybe the fact that I was screaming at it to go over helped."
Maybe.
Jason Bay drops his bat as he watches his solo-homer against the Nationals' Chad Cordero in the ninth inning.
Click photo for larger image.
Whatever it was, Bay's line drive off Washington's Chad Cordero did clear that right-field fence to open the Pirates' ninth inning with a home run and, ultimately, bring a 3-2 victory yesterday.
The reaction?
"We went nuts," right fielder Ryan Doumit said of the dugout. "It was awesome."
There was much else for the Pirates to enjoy about the afternoon, not the least of which was taking the three-game series: Ian Snell whisked through seven innings, Matt Capps remained perfect since becoming closer, and Freddy Sanchez's first home run of the season brought a 2-2 tie in the third.
But this outcome, without a doubt, was determined by one smooth stroke from the franchise's best player.
Bay had done little to that point, having gone hitless in the previous four games, in part because opponents seem to have had enough of pitching to him after his torrid finish to May. And he had a pretty good idea he was not going to see much that enticed him in this at-bat, either.
"You just have to stay patient," Bay said.
He drew a 1-1 count, and Cordero came next with a fastball, a bit too much over the plate but low enough that it hardly qualified as a "mistake," which was what a dejected Cordero called it later. Bay lowered his swing plane and, as he did with two of his three home runs at PNC Park on the homestand last week, drove it the other way with authority.
Never mind that Cordero, Washington's closer, had made 13 consecutive scoreless outings.
Or that RFK is Major League Baseball's most difficult venue in which to go deep.
"Terrific at-bat," manager Jim Tracy said.
"Cordero? Opposite field? In Washington?" LaRoche said. "Ain't a lot of guys who can say they did that."
Manny Acta, manager of the Nationals, saw it the same way.
"If a guy hits a ball to the opposite field at RFK, you just tip your hit to him," Acta said. "Jason Bay's a good power-hitter."
The home run was Bay's 11th, six of those coming in the past 14 games.
And get this: His 10 game-winning RBIs are tied with the Los Angeles Angels' Vladimir Guerrero for most in Major League Baseball.
"It's what you expect from your middle-of-the-order guys, and we're starting to see that from a lot of them lately," Tracy said. "It means everything to have that."
Snell shrugged off Dmitri Young's two-run home run in the first to put up six zeroes and leave with a line of three hits and seven strikeouts in his seven innings. He would get no decision once again, but his ERA lowered to 2.91 and the fine form he has shown all season was present throughout.
Snell gave some ... uh, credit to the Nationals' free-swinging approach, too.
"They were just swinging at everything," he said. "When you get that, your pitch count's going to be low, and you're going to get a lot of ground-ball outs."
True enough. Snell, due to bat to open the eighth, was taken out after just 86 pitches. He had nine groundouts.
The Pirates stranded men at third base in the first two innings off Washington starter Matt Chico, and it appeared they would do so again in the third when Snell was there with two outs. But Sanchez got under a 1-0 fastball and lifted into the bullpen beyond left field.
Capps pitched a 1-2-3 eighth and, after Bay's home run, followed suit in the ninth. The Nationals put all six balls in play, two with gusto, but the outs came on 15 total pitches, 11 strikes.
"I'll take it," Capps said. "Keep the ball down in the zone and, hopefully, they can't drive it out of the park."
Since becoming the closer last Friday, Capps has not allowed a man to reach base in four innings.
The Pirates' past eight games have been decided by two or fewer runs, and they had been 2-5 before yesterday. So, the potential for another close loss, with the team dropping in the Central Division standings, with Yankee Stadium on the horizon, surely was on their minds as Bay's ball ran its course.
"Vital," Doumit called the victory.
(Dejan Kovacevic can be reached at dkovacevic@post-gazette.com.)
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