Wednesday, April 28, 2010
By Dejan Kovacevic, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/?m=1
Darren Hauck/Associated Press
The Pirates' Ryan Doumit sends Milwaukee closer Trevor Hoffman's 2-0 fastball into the second deck in right field for the winning grand slam in the ninth inning.
MILWAUKEE -- The Pirates' clubhouse was a tight, tense place Tuesday afternoon, gripped by one of the worst week-long stretches for any team in Major League Baseball history.
At one stall, sitting silently, was Jeff Karstens, freshly recalled from Class AAA Indianapolis with a 7.31 ERA mostly as a reliever. He would be, by all appearances, the latest sacrificial lamb served up to the Milwaukee Brewers.
Strolling across the room to break that silence was Ryan Doumit, fresh off one of the most forgettable nights of his career. He tapped Karstens on the knee with his catcher's mitt and said, "Let's do this."
And so, hours later, they did ...
Pirates 7, Brewers 3.
No, that is not backward.
Karstens limited Milwaukee to two runs over 6 2/3 what's-so-hard-about-this innings for the Pirates' first quality start since April 18, and Doumit capped a five-run rally in the ninth with a tiebreaking grand slam off legendary closer Trevor Hoffman.
Gone, just like that, was the Pirates' 22-game losing streak at Miller Park with their first victory here since May 3, 2007.
Gone, too, was the overall seven-game losing streak, one in which the Pirates were outscored by an astounding 72-12. It was the worst such span in franchise history, and the worst in the majors since the New York Giants, as part of an eight-game losing streak Sept. 2-6, 1901, lost seven in a row by a combined 90-27, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
As Doumit put it, "This one feels good. We haven't won here in three years, and everybody knows that. And, obviously, the last seven days were pretty trying for us as a team. But Jeff came in and gave us what we needed."
There was more to it: Ronny Cedeno led off the ninth with a home run that tied the score at 3-3. Jeff Clement had his finest performance with the Pirates, hitting his third home run, a double and a single to inch above the Mendoza Line at .208. And Andy LaRoche went 4 for 5 to extend a 12-for-18 tear since returning from back spasms.
But it all started, just as all of the Pirates' epic problems had in the past week, with the starting pitcher: Karstens was characteristically simple in his approach, moving fastballs in and out and mixing in his new sinker, and he scattered six hits and four walks.
He had made only one start in Indianapolis, that of five innings coming two days after a relief outing, and he never threw more than 78 pitches until reaching 101 in this one.
"My arm felt fine," Karstens said. "I just wanted to be as efficient as possible, throw everything for strikes. And I did. My fastball was maybe a little erratic, but that might have helped in that it kept them from squaring up on it."
Manager John Russell was visibly moved afterward when asked about Karstens, this within the context of the Pirates' starters previously amassing an 8.72 ERA, the bullpen depleted and the blowouts coming almost daily.
"Jeff was outstanding," Russell said. "He kept us in the game. He's capable of doing that, but we really, really needed it, and he stepped up huge for us. You can't say enough ... for him to come out and give us a start like that when we desperately needed one, it says a lot about Jeff. And I'm proud of him."
Might Karstens get another nod with the next rotation vacancy Sunday in Los Angeles?
"I don't see why not. Kid deserves it."
Darren Hauck/Associated Press
Pirates pitcher Jeff Karstens pitches in the first inning.
Karstens was functioning on less than a handful of hours of sleep, likely from eagerness to rejoin the Pirates after an offseason in which he was removed from the 40-man roster and had an inconsistent spring.
But that inward focus might have served him well, as his late arrival onto the scene surely shielded him to the Pirates' woes of late.
"I know it was rough here, but we've got a lot of talented pitchers, and they'll come around," Karstens said. "I just took this as an opportunity to pitch."
Karstens took a 2-1 lead into the seventh, but Milwaukee's George Kottaras homered off his first pitch that inning to tie.
And, when Prince Fielder opened the eighth the same way with a home run off Javier Lopez, the Brewers were back up, 3-2, and the scene looked plenty familiar.
"When Fielder hits that ball, it would have been easy for us to go, 'Oh, here we go again,' " Doumit said. "But it's a testament to what all those guys did in front of me, with Trevor Hoffman, 'Hell's Bells' and all that. We didn't give up."
Cedeno took a ball, then reached for an outer-corner fastball and homered to left-center to tie. It was his second home run, and it quieted the crowd of 28,991 before the signature AC/DC sound-blast had settled.
"I was just trying to get on base," Cedeno said. "We were fighting the whole game."
Cedeno was adamant he had hit Hoffman's changeup, the pitch that someday will put him in the Hall of Fame. But Hoffman's chance at adding to his record 594 saves was blown -- his third in six opportunities -- because that pitch has suddenly abandoned him as his ERA has ballooned to 13.50.
Because of that ...
"I'm pigeonholing myself to where a hitter doesn't have to offer early," Hoffman said.
After an out, LaRoche singled and Lastings Milledge doubled him to third.
Garrett Jones was intentionally walked -- teams have been bypassing Jones all month to get to Doumit, with his four RBIs -- to load the bases.
Doumit, following the others' lead, stayed off two Hoffman pitches, then destroyed an 86-mph fastball into the second deck beyond right field for his second career grand slam, his first home run since the opener, and an instant doubling of that RBI total.
"Honestly, I'm not sitting on anything there," Doumit said. "I'm looking for a sac fly."
This followed Doumit's dismal Monday, when he failed to apply an easy tag on a play at the plate and stranded five runners with the bat.
"Yeah, but you know, that's why baseball's such a beautiful sport," Doumit said. "You can get absolutely boat-raced one day, then come back the next and put the hurt on the same team."
Despite the ugly nature of the Pirates' seven-game losing streak, neither the job of Russell nor that of general manager Neal Huntington is in jeopardy, according to multiple sources Tuesday. Any such decision would be made by team president Frank Coonelly, who was unavailable for comment.
Dejan Kovacevic: dkovacevic@post-gazette.com. Find more at PBC Blog.
Today
Game: Pirates vs. Milwaukee Brewers, 1:10 p.m., Miller Park.
TV, radio: FSN Pittsburgh, WPGB-FM (104.7).
Pitching: LHP Paul Maholm (1-2, 4.74) vs. LHP Chris Narveson (1-0, 7.20).
Key matchup: Maholm has owned the Brewers' Prince Fielder, retiring him 30 of 34 times up, with 10 strikeouts and a walk..
Of note: Octavio Dotel, the Pirates' closer, has been scored upon in five consecutive appearances, and opponents are batting .382 with three home runs in 7 1/3 innings.
• The PBC Blog
• Box score
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• Standings
• Minor-league report
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