Homers by Luis Gonzalez, Joc Pederson boost Giants past Pirates
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Zach Thompson was one the Pittsburgh Pirates’ most effective starting pitchers last month, but the right-hander was off target from the start against the San Francisco Giants.
Two pitches he missed in particular proved to be the difference.
Luis Gonzalez and Joc Pederson hit solo home runs, and Giants left-hander Carlos Rodon pitched eight scoreless innings in a 2-0 win over the Pirates on Friday night before 19,075 at PNC Park.
“Uh, not great,” Thompson said in assessing his performance, noting that he had five walks. “I was all over the place.”
Thompson got off to a bad start when Gonzalez smashed a 2-0 cutter 387 feet over the right-field seats and onto the riverwalk for a leadoff homer and 1-0 Giants lead. Pederson started the fourth with a 413-foot blast of a 1-1 changeup for a 2-0 Giants lead.
After going 2-1 with a 2.45 ERA and holding opponents to a .211 batting average in six appearances (five starts) in May, Thompson was more erratic against the Giants. He threw only 46 of his 83 pitches for strikes in 4 1/3 innings but benefited from solid defense as the Pirates turned double plays in each of the first three innings, including a spectacular play by third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes.
“He just wasn’t really sharp,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “He was still able to execute. He got himself a couple double plays. He got out of the big jam in the second with the bases loaded and nobody out and executed pitches, but the cutter and the curveball just were not as sharp as we had seen it previously.
“He still battled and gave us a chance to win. They hit solo homers, one of them to lead off the game. Overall, I thought he pitched really well. We just couldn’t get anything going offensively.”
After Pederson’s homer in the fourth, Brandon Belt drew a walk but was forced out at second on Thairo Estrada’s grounder to short. The Pirates challenged Estrada’s steal attempt, initially ruled safe by second base umpire Jim Reynolds, was overturned when a video review showed that catcher Tyler Heineman’s throw to shortstop Diego Castillo got him out. It was the third consecutive game a Pirates catcher caught a runner stealing.
After Thompson’s fifth walk, to Austin Wynns in the fifth, the Pirates turned to Cam Vieaux. The 28-year-old left-hander, who had a 2.28 ERA and 0.90 WHIP in 18 relief appearances at Triple-A Indianapolis, had his contract selected Friday when outfielder Canaan Smith-Njigba was placed on the 60-day injured list with a fractured right wrist.
In his major league debut, Vieaux got Luis Gonzalez to fly out to deep left field and gave up a single to Mike Yastrzemski before getting Evan Longoria swinging on a full-count changeup for his first career strikeout.
“Overall, really good first impression,” Shelton said. “What we heard about how he had pitched in Indy, he came out and pitched like that.”
Only three days after surviving a no-hit bid in the ninth by St. Louis Cardinals right-hander Miles Mikolas, the Pirates didn’t get a hit off Rodon until the bottom of the fifth inning when Jack Suwinski finally broke up the bid with a two-out single to right field.
The Pirates couldn’t solve Rodon, who leaned on his four-seam fastball and slider to allow two hits and two walks while striking out eight. He threw 71 of his 98 pitches for strikes and needed only four pitches to finish the seventh and six for the eighth. Rodon’s fastball started in the low-to-mid 90s but soon was touching 98 mph.
“He was just sharp throughout the whole game,” Shelton said. “He executed pitches with all three of them and moved his fastball around. … This is a veteran guy that executed against a younger lineup and was able to use his breaking ball.”