Russell Martin Slams Dramatic Homer To Push Pittsburgh Pirates Past Brewers
By Matt Gajtka
Sep 19, 2014; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Pittsburgh Pirates catcher Russell Martin (55) reacts as he rounds the bases after hitting a three run home run against the Milwaukee Brewers during the eighth inning at PNC Park. The Pirates won 3-2. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
The Milwaukee Brewers have had a difficult month, but Russell Martin may have finally put them out of their misery.
The Pirates’ charismatic catcher added yet another clutch moment to his collection in the eighth inning Friday night, pounding a go-ahead three-run homer to erase a 2-0 deficit. About 20 minutes later, the Bucs prevailed by a 4-2 count, finally winning five in a row for the first time all season.
Martin’s 11th home run of the season turned around a game that looked bleak after Yovani Gallardo summoned seven scoreless innings against a Pittsburgh offense that has been mashing lately. Fortunately, the Pirates (83-70) did a good enough job running up Gallardo’s pitch count that the right-hander hit the bench after throwing 114.
That brought on Jonathan Broxton, who had already blown a pair of saves against the Bucs this year as a member of the Reds. This time he was wearing blue, but the results were the same. After Starling Marte reached on an infield hit, Andrew McCutchen struck out, but Neil Walker lined a single to bring up Martin for a pivotal at-bat.
As he has often this year, Martin came through. The bearded one lifted a center-cut fastball from the burly Broxton into the first row of seats in the right-center grandstand. A sold-out PNC Park erupted, as did Martin, who pumped his fist and pounded his chest while feverishly rounding the bases.
The Pirates weren’t done, even after that adrenaline rush. Travis Snider singled to chase Broxton, then pinch-hitters Andrew Lambo and Ike Davis slapped consecutive hits off hard-throwing Jeremy Jeffress to get a fourth run across.
The cushion was nice, but it proved unnecessary when Mark Melancon worked a routine ninth to earn his 31st save. One more roar from the crowd signaled yet another Pirates victory, their 12th in 14 games.
More importantly, the comeback pushed the Brewers 4 1/2 games behind the Bucs for the National League’s final playoff spot with two games left in this weekend showdown. The Pirates’ magic number to clinch a playoff berth shrunk to five with nine games to play, and they trail San Francisco by a single game for the top wild-card position.
The Brewers (79-75) were trying to rebound from an extra-inning loss Thursday night in St. Louis, one in which they also held a 2-0 lead in the eighth, but they suffered another setback in a September full of them. The one-time NL Central leaders fell seven behind the first-place Cardinals and appear headed for an idle October.
Gallardo did all he could to raise the Milwaukee’s hopes, working the corners of the plate and changing speeds expertly on his way to 11 strikeouts. Jonathan Lucroy drove in Ryan Braun with an RBI single in the first inning off Pirates starter Jeff Locke, then Rickie Weeks grew the margin to two with a line-drive homer in the fifth.
But Locke was at his pitch-to-contact best for most of the night, getting through seven frames on just 82 pitches. He fanned three and walked none, following up Gerrit Cole‘s zero-walk outing the previous evening against Boston. John Holdzkom came on in the eighth, dodging a two-out free pass to toss another shutout inning.
The Pirates piled up 11 hits, with six coming in the eighth. McCutchen and Snider were the lone multi-hit men on the night, with McCutchen earning his ninth triple in the first inning.
Pittsburgh, now a season-high 13 games above .500, can shove Milwaukee even closer to formal elimination with a win Saturday. Edinson Volquez squares off against the Brewers’ Matt Garza.