Final
Bautista leads balanced attack as Pirates snap three-game skid
Jun 13, 2007 - 4:17 AM PITTSBURGH (Ticker) -- All the Pittsburgh Pirates needed to snap out of a funk was Kevin Millwood and the Texas Rangers.Jose Bautista, Adam LaRoche and Xavier Nady each homered and drove in two runs off Millwood as the Pirates ended a three-game slide with a 7-5 victory over the Rangers on Tuesday night.
Pittsburgh starter Zach Duke (3-6) tossed six efficient innings, allowing eight hits and two runs to win at home for the first time since September 17.
"Any time you can stop a losing streak it's a big game, especially starting a homestand here," Duke said. "Hopefully I can put together a nice run here."
The first batter Millwood faced, Bautista, blasted a home run into the left field seats 417 feet away and it was all uphill from there for Texas.
"It's just his location," Texas manager Ron Washington said. "He has good velocity, it's just the location. You need location up here."
The Pirates plated two more runs in the first when LaRoche stroked an RBI double and scored on Nady's run-scoring single for a 3-0 lead. In that inning, Millwood (2-6) allowed three runs, four hits and one walk while tossing 35 pitches.
"I feel like we have been swinging the bats decent and we got a big inning the first inning," Nady said. "That kind of puts a little pressure on them. And you hope that it lasts and we continue to have good at-bats, and we did that."
Millwood went 4 1/3 innings, giving up eight hits and six runs to remain winless since April 13.
"I don't know what I need to do," Millwood said. "I'm kind of lost right now. I'm trying everything I can to figure it out and make things turn in the right direction and it's just not working."
Nady led off the fourth with his 11th home run and, two batters later, Duke reached on an error by shortstop Michael Young and scored on a double by Bautista to give Pittsburgh a 5-0 lead.
The Rangers wasted a golden opportunity to put some runs on the board in the fifth when they loaded the bases with none out, but Brad Wilkerson flew out to shallow left and rookie Travis Metcalf bounced into a 1-2-3 double play to end the threat. Duke was aided by four double-play balls, including one in each of the first three innings.
"When Zach is good and has good movement and he's locating his pitches the way he was (Tuesday), that's what he does and he's very good at it," Pittsburgh manager Jim Tracy said. "You know going in he's not out there to strike out 10 or 15 guys. The ball's going to be in play and you have to catch the ball for him.
"When he hits it in play for you, you have to make plays for him and the plays were made. Those are plays that you expect a good defensive team to make."
Texas finally got to Duke in the sixth when Marlon Byrd singled, Young doubled and Sammy Sosa doubled to cut the deficit to 6-2. 6-2.
The Rangers scored three runs off the struggling Pirates' bullpen, including two in the ninth. However, Matt Capps got Ramon Vazquez to hit into a double play and fanned pinch hitter Kenny Lofton for his third save.
Sosa reached base three times and knocked in two runs for the Rangers, who have dropped four out of their past six.
Prior to Tuesday, the Pirates were a season-low 11 games under .500, but none of that mattered as they earned their first-ever win against the Rangers in seven tries.
"It was nice to get off to a good start here," LaRoche said. "Obviously it's great to be back home and get out of New York. Hopefully we can all forget about that real soon."
- ML
FINAL
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
- - - - - - - - - - - -
TEXAS 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 2 5 12 1
PITTSBURGH 3 0 0 2 1 1 0 0 x 7 10 1 (FINAL)
BATTERIES: TEX - KEVIN MILLWOOD, SCOTT FELDMAN (5TH), WES LITTLETON (7TH) AND
GERALD LAIRD
PIT - ZACH DUKE, DAMASO MARTE (7TH), JONAH BAYLISS
(8TH), JOHN GRABOW (9TH), MATT C
Jun 12 10:00 PM - ML
AT PITTSBURGH - SCORING UPDATE
SINGLE BY ADAM MELHUSE SCORED BRAD WILKERSON.
SITUATION: 2 RUNS IN, A MELHUSE ON FIRST, 0 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: TEXAS 5
PITTSBURGH 7 TOP, 9TH
DUE UP FOR TEXAS: R VAZQUEZ (.277, 0-FOR-2)
Rangers vs. PiratesJun 12 10:00 PM - ML
AT PITTSBURGH - SCORING UPDATE
DOUBLE BY BRAD WILKERSON SCORED IAN KINSLER.
SITUATION: 1 RUN IN, B WILKERSON ON SECOND, 0 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: TEXAS 4
PITTSBURGH 7 TOP, 9TH
DUE UP FOR TEXAS: W LITTLETON (.000, 0 HR, 0 RBI)
Rangers vs. PiratesJun 12 9:45 PM - ML
AT PITTSBURGH - SCORING UPDATE
SINGLE BY SAMMY SOSA SCORED MARLON BYRD.
SITUATION: 1 RUN IN, S SOSA ON FIRST, M YOUNG ON THIRD, 2 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: TEXAS 3
PITTSBURGH 7 TOP, 8TH
DUE UP FOR TEXAS: G LAIRD (.246, 2-FOR-3)
Rangers vs. PiratesJun 12 9:28 PM - ML
AT PITTSBURGH - SCORING UPDATE
WILD PITCH BY SCOTT FELDMAN ALLOWED JOSE BAUTISTA TO
SCORE.
SITUATION: 1 RUN IN, NONE ON, 2 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: TEXAS 2
PITTSBURGH 7 BOTTOM, 6TH
DUE UP FOR PITTSBURGH: J BAY (.286, 1-FOR-3)
Rangers vs. PiratesJun 12 8:57 PM - ML
AT PITTSBURGH - SCORING UPDATE
DOUBLE BY SAMMY SOSA SCORED MICHAEL YOUNG.
SITUATION: 2 RUNS IN, S SOSA ON SECOND, 2 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: TEXAS 2
PITTSBURGH 6 TOP, 6TH
DUE UP FOR TEXAS: G LAIRD (.247, 2-FOR-2)
Rangers vs. PiratesJun 12 8:49 PM - ML
AT PITTSBURGH - SCORING UPDATE
DOUBLE BY MICHAEL YOUNG SCORED MARLON BYRD.
SITUATION: 1 RUN IN, M YOUNG ON SECOND, 2 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: TEXAS 1
PITTSBURGH 6 TOP, 6TH
DUE UP FOR TEXAS: S SOSA (.241, 0-FOR-1, BB)
Rangers vs. PiratesJun 12 8:47 PM - ML
AT PITTSBURGH - SCORING UPDATE
SOLO HOME RUN BY ADAM LAROCHE (8) TO CENTER WITH 0 OUT IN
THE 5TH OFF KEVIN MILLWOOD.
CURRENT SCORE: TEXAS 0, PITTSBURGH 6
DUE UP FOR PITTSBURGH: X NADY (.290, 2-FOR-2, HR, 2 RBI)
Rangers vs. PiratesJun 12 8:33 PM - ML
AT PITTSBURGH - SCORING UPDATE
DOUBLE BY JOSE BAUTISTA SCORED ZACH DUKE.
SITUATION: 2 RUNS IN, J BAUTISTA ON SECOND, 2 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: TEXAS 0
PITTSBURGH 5 BOTTOM, 4TH
DUE UP FOR PITTSBURGH: C DUFFY (.241, 0-FOR-1, BB)
Rangers vs. PiratesJun 12 8:13 PM - ML
AT PITTSBURGH - SCORING UPDATE
SOLO HOME RUN BY XAVIER NADY (11) TO LEFT CENTER WITH 0 OUT
IN THE 4TH OFF KEVIN MILLWOOD.
CURRENT SCORE: TEXAS 0, PITTSBURGH 4
DUE UP FOR PITTSBURGH: J CASTILLO (.254, 0-FOR-1)
Rangers vs. PiratesJun 12 8:08 PM - ML
AT PITTSBURGH - SCORING UPDATE
SINGLE BY XAVIER NADY SCORED ADAM LAROCHE.
SITUATION: 3 RUNS IN, X NADY ON FIRST, 2 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: TEXAS 0
PITTSBURGH 3 BOTTOM, 1ST
DUE UP FOR PITTSBURGH: J CASTILLO (.258, 0 HR, 8 RBI)
Rangers vs. PiratesJun 12 7:28 PM - ML
AT PITTSBURGH - SCORING UPDATE
DOUBLE BY ADAM LAROCHE SCORED JASON BAY.
SITUATION: 2 RUNS IN, A LAROCHE ON SECOND, 2 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: TEXAS 0
PITTSBURGH 2 BOTTOM, 1ST
DUE UP FOR PITTSBURGH: X NADY (.282, 10 HR, 36 RBI)
Rangers vs. PiratesJun 12 7:25 PM - ML
AT PITTSBURGH - SCORING UPDATE
SOLO HOME RUN BY JOSE BAUTISTA (5) TO LEFT WITH 0 OUT IN
THE 1ST OFF KEVIN MILLWOOD.
CURRENT SCORE: TEXAS 0, PITTSBURGH 1
DUE UP FOR PITTSBURGH: C DUFFY (.242, 3 HR, 21 RBI)
Rangers vs. PiratesJun 12 7:14 PM
Related News
- Tuesday Morning Texas Rangers Update Dec 26
- Christmas Morning Texas Rangers Update Dec 25
- Garver to the M’s, per reports Dec 24
- Christmas Eve Rangers things Dec 24
- Saturday morning Rangers things Dec 23
- Pirates Top Games of 2023: No. 6 - Drew Maggi gets his moment Dec 23
- The Pirates got it right with Andrew McCutchen Dec 22
- LSB Offseason Community Prospect Rankings — #15 Dec 22
- Friday morning Rangers stuff Dec 22
- Bucs Arghticles: Pirates’ Andrew McCutchen makes comments after signing Dec 22
- Pirates targeting first baseman in upcoming MLB Draft Dec 22
- Yamamoto to Dodgers, per reports Dec 21