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Jared Triolo delivers as Pirates outlast Marlins for wild, 12-inning victory on opening day

Jason Mackey, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on

Published in Baseball

MIAMI — Through 11 innings Thursday, Jared Triolo had a first opening day that he would probably rather forget, one that included a rare error, two strikeouts and five largely unproductive trips to the plate.

At least it ended well.

In the top of the 12th inning, Triolo’s flare of a single into right field scored Ke’Bryan Hayes from third base, pushing the Pirates in front by a run. Jose Hernandez, recalled earlier in the day from Triple-A Indianapolis, finished it off for a 6-5 Pirates victory.

A spotless game this was not. But it counts just the same.

In addition to Triolo failing to turn two early on, he struck out looking with the bases loaded to end the sixth. The Pirates also had runners thrown out at home — by Josh Bell, no less — in the 10th and 11th innings.

The wild and wacky win also featured three home runs for the Pirates, as well as some terrific work from the Pirates bullpen, a group that curiously did not include David Bednar. Josh Fleming, Hunter Stratton, Ryan Borucki, Aroldis Chapman, Luis Ortiz and Jose Hernandez combined to finish the game after Mitch Keller.

 

Once the Pirates knocked starter Jesus Luzardo out of the game, they seemed to gain their equilibrium against Miami’s bullpen, tying the score at five with two runs in the seventh and one more in the eighth.

The first of those runs came on a pinch-hit blast from Edward Olivares, who didn’t find his swing until later in spring training. Facing a lefty in Andrew Nardi, Olivares clobbered an 0-1 fastball out to left-center, his first in a Pirates uniform, traveling 413 feet to make it a 5-3 game.

Michael A. Taylor restarted things with a single, Bryan Reynolds contributed a book-rule double and Hayes walked to load the bases. Andrew McCutchen’s soft bouncer to short scored another run, 5-4.

In the following inning, Oneil Cruz found a fastball he liked from Sixto Sanchez, one that was up and away and a pitch the 6-foot-7 shortstop somehow deposited over the fence in left for his first home run of the season.

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