If April showers bring May flowers, the Pirates should see something special bloom this month.
On a cool, rainy Saturday night at PNC Park, John Jaso jumped on the first pitch Cincinnati Reds right-hander Alfredo Simon threw and rode it out to right-center field for a home run. Left-hander Francisco Liriano shouldered the load for 6⅔ strong innings as the Pirates captured a 5-1 win.
“It’s always cool when a guy hits a first-pitch homer,” manager Clint Hurdle said. “Doesn’t happen all that often. John set a nice tone to get us out front and get Frankie a run to work with early.”
In extending their winning streak to a season-high six games, the Pirates (15-9) also tied a club record for most wins in the month of April. They now have won the past 13 home games started by Liriano, their opening-day starter the past three years.
Liriano (2-1) gave up five hits and one run, striking out seven. The smallest number but biggest takeaway from his start was the zero in the walks column — he reached just three three-ball counts. His 17 walks issued before Saturday were the most among all National League pitchers.
Liriano had impeccable command against the Reds (9-15), throwing 72 of his 109 pitches for strikes.
“We’ve seen this outing from him before,” Hurdle said. “Quick and efficient.”
The same night the Baltimore Orioles’ Pedro Alvarez slugged his first home run for his new team, the new Pirates first baseman did the same. Alvarez raised his average above the Mendoza line for the first time this season; Jaso homered and walked to steady his .316 average.
Jaso spent the past few days working with hitting coaches Jeff Branson and Jeff Livesey to tweak his back-foot placement at the plate. He’d been turning his left foot inward, like a sprinter’s stance.
“It was good to see a result,” Jaso said. “We all like that. It’s a game of adjustments.”
In the eighth, Sean Rodriguez subbed in for Jaso and blasted a two-run home run off reliever Caleb Cotham. In 30 at-bats this season, Rodriguez already has four home runs, the same number he had all of last year.
To say Simon started Saturday with his season skidding sideways would suggest it once was on track. Rather, the right-hander hadn’t thrown a scoreless inning since his no-decision April 8 against the Pirates. In the interim, he allowed 18 runs, 16 earned, over six innings.
Simon’s 16.39 season ERA got worse before it got better. After Jaso’s solo shot — the Pirates’ first leadoff, first-inning homer this season — Simon walked two batters and advanced them on a wild pitch. But he stranded them at second and third, so his ERA was pruned to 15.68.
“We didn’t crack him,” Hurdle said. “But we pushed him.”
In the end, Simon turned in his second-longest outing this season, going four innings plus three batters. Even that was one too many. After a single and a hit by pitch to open the fifth, manager Bryan Price decided a mound visit should suffice, liked what Simon said and stuck with him.
Two fastballs later, Francisco Cervelli chipped a go-ahead RBI single to shallow center, and Price replaced Simon with right-hander JC Ramirez. Josh Harrison’s sacrifice fly with two outs put the Pirates up, 3-1.
It was another nice night at the plate for Liriano. He nearly knocked a line drive up the gap in his first at-bat, then slapped a single to left in his second — making him 3 for 4 lifetime against Simon. Liriano struck out with two on in the fourth inning. His average dipped from .400 to .385.
That the Reds bat their pitchers eighth in the order made for a comic prelude to the Reds’ lone run. Simon, the starter, reached first when Cervelli fielded a wet baseball out front of home plate and shanked his throw well right of first base. A carom brought the ball back toward the first baseman Jaso, giving chase, and his throw to second cut down a surprised Simon, who intended to advance on the error and neglected to slide.
The speedy No. 9 hitter Billy Hamilton singled. Zack Cozart doubled down the left-field line, and the relay from Starling Marte to Jordy Mercer to Cervelli came in just behind a sliding Hamilton.
The Pirates bullpen ticked like clockwork. Neftali Feliz needed one pitch to clean up a mess in the seventh, and Tony Watson, A.J. Schugel and Mark Melancon followed in scoreless fashion. The Reds bullpen, meanwhile, has given up at least one run in 18 consecutive games.
“The conversations have morphed over the last several years,” Hurdle said. “With bullpens built bigger, better, stronger, why would you get the starter out? You still need to get the starter out. Because when they’re behind, the second line of defense isn’t as strong as the first.”
By Stephen J. Nesbitt: snesbitt@post-gazette.com and on Twitter @stephenjnesbitt.
First Published: May 1, 2016, 2:25 a.m.
