Long time coming
MIAMI — The Pittsburgh Pirates took on the deepest parts of Marlins Park on Thursday night, and won.
Gerrit Cole snapped the longest winless drought of his career, Pedro Alvarez homered and the Pirates held on to beat the Miami Marlins 2-1.
Catcher Francisco Cervelli tripled and scored in the second inning for the Pirates, who took three out of four in the series.
Alvarez made it 2-0 in the fourth on his 21st homer — the 18th of the solo variety. The big hits from Alvarez and Cervelli both went to deep center field, the triple by Cervelli skipping off the glove of Marlins center fielder Marcell Ozuna.
“(Alvarez) has as much raw power as anybody in the game, except for maybe the guy over there,” Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said, with the `guy over there’ reference being a nod to Giancarlo Stanton, Miami’s sidelined slugger.
The Marlins could have used Stanton. It was the 32nd time this season they were held to one run or less, and Cole kept them guessing most of the game.
Cole (15-7) allowed one run and five hits in 7 1-3 innings, striking out four and walking none. Cole hadn’t gotten the win in any of his previous five starts, and the Pirates are 45-22 all-time when he takes the mound.
“Pretty special arm,” Marlins manager Dan Jennings said. “You know you’re in for a battle any time he’s the opposing pitcher. His stuff is quality and he’s one of the better guys in the National League, no doubt.”
Justin Nicolino (2-2) gave up two runs and six hits in six innings for the Marlins, who got two hits apiece from Ozuna and Martin Prado. The homer served up to Alvarez was a cutter that stayed in the heart of the plate, Nicolino said.
“You can’t leave pitches like that up to him,” Nicolino said. “He did what he was supposed to do with it.”
Said Alvarez: “You never know here. It’s such a big park.”
The Marlins got within 2-1 in the seventh when Derek Dietrich’s sacrifice fly allowed Prado to score. Miami got what would have been the tying run to second with one out in the eighth, but left-hander Tony Watson relieved Cole and retired Dee Gordon and Ichiro Suzuki to strand J.T. Realmuto and keep the Pirates on top.
Mark Melancon gave up a leadoff single to Prado in the ninth, then got Justin Bour to hit into a double play and retired Ozuna on a grounder to finish off his 41st save in 43 chances.
Cervelli, who did not play Wednesday after banging up both feet on Tuesday, was back in the starting lineup. He got ejected in the bottom of the third after a pitch from Cole was ruled a ball, and Cervelli turned toward home plate umpire Alan Porter while appearing to take exception. That came moments after Cervelli grounded out to end the top of the third and leave the bases loaded. “I didn’t like the way he talked to me,” Cervelli said.
Pittsburgh still doesn’t have a complete game this season; this would be the first Pirates team ever without one unless someone goes the distance in one of their final 36 games. The Marlins have gone 232 games without a complete game, the longest active streak in the majors.
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