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HOUSTON -- Beforehand, Pirates manager John Russell sat in his visitors' clubhouse office Saturday and assessed a full first 16 days of the season: "We've been through a lot already."
A dozen pitches later, the Pirates endured more than they imagined.
Chris Jakubauskas, an affable former Independent Leaguer making his inaugural Pirates start, lay face down on the mound, kicking his feet, after a Lance Berkman line drive struck him behind his right ear and felled him instantaneously.
"I heard the ball hit the bat, and the next thing I heard it hit his head," Russell was saying after this 5-2 loss to Houston before a Minute Maid Park crowd of 30,562 that stood and cheered when Jakubauskas arose gingerly after several stressful moments and walked to a cart. He remained in Methodist Hospital overnight for observation, but a CAT scan showed no fractures and doctors saw no early signs of concussions.
Game: Pirates vs. Houston Astros, 2:05 p.m., Minute Maid Park.
TV, radio: FSN Pittsburgh, WPGB-FM (104.7).
Pitching: : RHP Charlie Morton (0-3, 16.55) vs. RHP Brett Myers (0-1, 4.05).
Key matchup: Morton vs. his fastball and its location.
Of note: Morton is 0-2 with a 7.88 ERA in 16 innings at Houston. Against him, Lance Berkman is 4 for 6 with four RBIs, a home run and two doubles; Carlos Lee is 3 for 8 with four RBIs, a home run and a double.
So, as of Saturday night, he seemed to be all right despite what Russell described as a "very scary moment."
"It was hit hard enough that I didn't even see the ball until it hit off him," said Bobby Crosby, playing first base. "There's no way to describe it. It was just tough to see."
"Hand to God right there," Jack Taschner, one of five pitchers who finished the remaining 71/3 innings after Jakubauskas two-on, two-out start. "The Lord's looking out for him. That was absolutely murdered."
"That put lots of things into perspective," said No. 5 starter Daniel McCutchen, who pitched the seventh -- after taking it easy on a normal, 40-toss off day, being prepared as an "emergency" reliever -- but believes he still could start Tuesday in Milwaukee. "Besides everyone in the 'pen taking their hat off and praying, there wasn't much talking out there for a while. It brings you back to this being a game and how important other things are."
With Michael Bourn aboard on a leadoff single and two outs, Berkman struck a line drive that appeared to slightly caromed off Jakubasuskas' glove and hit his head, a happenstance frightening enough to cause Berkman to immediately touch first base and make a sharp turn to the mound. Pirates players, coaches and medical staff gathered around the mound.
Jakubauskas was kicking his feet in pain and muttering, "Oh, my God." Third baseman Andy LaRoche paused to utter a prayer. Catcher Jason Jaramillo, who couldn't compel himself to go to the mound, knelt halfway between home and there, and he also prayed.
"His stuff was lights out in the bullpen" before the game, Jaramillo marveled afterward. "I was excited for him. For something like that to happen ...
"My stomach, I felt a little queasy there."
D.J. Carrasco, a longtime long reliever, twice before was summoned from the bullpen to replace a downed pitcher. This time, he said, was the most striking one, though. A line drive to the head.
"In the back of your mind ... your always gun-shy a little bit," he said of taking the mound next.
He could see the strain in Pirates starter Paul Maholm, who, in 2004 with Class A Lynchburg, was dropped by a line drive that didn't merely break the bones around his left eye, sinus and nose, it pulverized them. He lay motionless for 15 minutes. He was taken away by ambulance.
"I knew Maholm tensed up a little bit," Carrasco said. "That brought back some memories for him."
Jakubauskas, 31, played first base at the same University of Oklahoma that produced Russell and McCutchen. He arose to the majors after four long seasons in the same Independent League as the Washington Wild Things. Signed by Seattle in 2007, by last season he was a part-time starter who pitched in 35 games before the Mariners waived him in the offseason, and the Pirates grabbed him and placed him on their 40-man roster.
The club is expected to make some sort of roster move -- recalling Brian Burres, perhaps -- today before completing its set in Houston and moving on to Milwaukee and Los Angeles. Yet they won't soon forgot Saturday.
"That's something I hope I never witness again," LaRoche said.
"There are a lot of trials and tribulations you got to go through," Carrasco said of a young team.
So far, these Pirates have witnessed a burdensome share.
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