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Jacobs' walk-off homer leads Marlins over Pirates

Apr 5, 2008 - 3:29 AM By Chris Stock PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

MIAMI (Ticker) -- Mike Jacobs may hit plenty more home runs, but few will be as memorable.

Jacobs hit his first career walk-off homer run, leading the Florida Marlins to a 5-4 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Friday.

With two outs, the 27-year-old Jacobs crushed a 1-1 sinker from Franquelis Osoria (0-1) into the right field seats for his first home run of the season.

"I knew it was going to go out," Jacobs said. "It's obviously a good feeling, first homer of the year and first-ever walk-off in the big leagues. I think everything kind of stops and it's just a feeling that you probably won't ever forget."

Josh Willingham hit a two-run shot in the third for the Marlins that knotted the game at 3-3. He later scored on an error in the fourth to forge a 4-4 deadlock.

Ryan Doumit belted a two-run homer and Chris Gomez drove in a pair of runs for the Pirates, who were doomed by poor defense.

Kevin Gregg (1-1) pitched a scoreless ninth for the Marlins, who already have hit two walk-off homers this season. Robert Andino accomplished the feat in the 10th inning Tuesday to give Florida a 5-4 win over the New York Mets.

The win came on the heels of a 13-0 loss to New York on Wednesday.

"That is what it is all about for the players," Florida manager Fredi Gonzalez said. "For the coaches and managers, it is another ulcer, but it's fun especially at home. I'd like for one time that we'd get one of those 13-0 ballgames."

Willingham homered to left field in the third off Pirates starter Matt Morris to tie the game at 3-3. But Doumit gave Pittsburgh a 4-3 lead with a solo blast off Florida starter Scott Olsen in the top of the fourth.

"Scotty is a good friend of mine so I have a little bragging rights over him, but I thought he pitched a great game," Doumit said.

The Marlins again evened the contest in the bottom of the inning thanks to some shoddy defense by the Pirates, who committed two errors on one play.

Jacobs hit a two-out single to right and advanced to third when third baseman Jose Bautista sailed a routine throw over the head of first baseman Adam LaRoche on a grounder by Willingham.

LaRoche retrieved the ball and tried to get Willingham at second, but his throw to shortstop Luis Rivas was too high, allowing Jacobs to score the tying run.

"You start throwing the ball around and bad things happen," Jacobs said.

Conversely, the Marlins made a number of great defensive plays. Second baseman Dan Uggla made a diving stop in the first and flipped the ball to shortstop Hanley Ramirez, who finished off a double play.

In addition, Willingham and Brett Carroll each threw out baserunners trying to stretch singles into doubles.

"What won the game was our defense," Gonzalez said.

The Pirates jumped to an early 3-0 lead in the second on a two-run single by Gomez, who was a late replacement for Freddy Sanchez, and an RBI double by Nate McLouth.

Olsen allowed four runs and seven hits in six innings. The lefthander struck out five and walked two.

"Maybe the most gratifying thing is that I didn't have great stuff," Olsen said. "I had OK stuff, but I was able to battle, and we were able to keep it close before Jacobs came huge for us in the end."

Morris surrendered four runs - three earned - and eight hits in five innings with two strikeouts and two walks.