How the Bucs mounted a surprising comeback on Opening Day
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MIAMI -- Jared Triolo stood at his locker and quipped, “The first one’s the hardest, right?”
It’s hard to envision too many wins being harder than this. The Pirates didn’t produce their first lead against the Marlins on Thursday until the 12th inning, but it was Triolo who delivered the winning knock in a 6-5 win at loanDepot Park.
“I give our guys a lot of credit,” manager Derek Shelton said. “They just kept playing throughout the whole game. We used a ton of people who contributed. We did some things we have to clean up, but overall we came out with a win because they continued to play.”
What matters is the Pirates are 1-0 after Opening Day, but the journey to get there may very well make it one of the hardest-earned wins of the year. To recap the oddities of the day…
Triolo rebounds to be the hero
Triolo delivered the winning knock in the 12th on a bloop to center to score Ke’Bryan Hayes. Most of his Opening Day was far from ideal, though. In the second, he dropped a flip to second from Oneil Cruz, botching a double play and costing the Pirates a run. In the sixth, he watched a called third strike with the bases loaded and two outs.
Starter Mitch Keller was the first person to tell Triolo to keep his head up after the error, saying he’ll get more opportunities. He made the most of the one that mattered.
"Kind of battling at the plate early in the game and throughout the game, and then you're just in the moment in the last inning,” Triolo said. “Was just good to find some grass with that hit, for sure."
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Cruz reintroduces himself
In case you needed a reminder of Cruz’s seemingly limitless potential, he reminded everyone of it in his first Major League game in 355 days by tying the game in the eighth with a home run to left.
“I have to tell you one thing: [There were] a lot of tough moments last year not being able to be on the field,” Cruz said, via interpreter and coach Stephen Morales. “But now that I'm out there, it's all good and I'm happy [to help] our team win.”
“You don’t see very many guys left-handed do what he did today,” Shelton said. “That’s why he’s a special talent.”
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A short-handed bullpen shoves
The bullpen was always projected to be the strength of the Pirates’ pitching staff, but it was down three of its most reliable leverage arms. Carmen Mlodzinski and Colin Holderman were both placed on the 15-day injured list, and David Bednar was not available as a final precaution in his rehab from his right lat tightness.
It didn’t matter. The bullpen combined for 6 1/3 scoreless frames, with perhaps the two biggest coming from Luis Ortiz. The 25-year-old right-hander has not pitched out of the bullpen aside from games in which he had an opener before, but he came through in the 10th and 11th to strand the automatic runner on second thanks to a pair of double plays after intentional walks.
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Exiting the mound in the 11th as Hayes, Triolo and Connor Joe completed the around the horn double play off Jonah Bride’s bat, an amped up Ortiz let out a roar heading back to the dugout.
“It was so good just to see my fellow relievers come behind me and then shut the door,” Ortiz said, via Morales. “It’s contagious, the energy and all that. But that’s what we’re here for, to help the team how we can. That’s what we will do.”
"Exceptional,” Triolo said about the bullpen. “I don't know exactly how many pitchers we ran out there, but every guy that came in dominated.”
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The save goes to someone who wasn’t supposed to be here
Jose Hernandez was supposed to start the season with Triple-A Indianapolis, but he was a late fill-in because Roansy Contreras went on paternity leave.
With all but Ryder Ryan left in the bullpen, Shelton turned to Hernandez, who got two groundouts before Bryan De La Cruz flew out to end it.
“Being honest, after that second out, my emotions went down a little bit,” Hernandez said, via Morales. “I was able to be more calm, just because I was no longer the one with the pressure; it was them, because I was facing the possible third out. I think I felt better there than I did before that.”