Pirates’ explosion was rare at Chavez Ravine
Dodger Stadium opened in Los Angeles in 1962 and the Pirates have played the Dodgers there 301 times.
However, it was a rare occasion last Sunday when the Pirates scored five runs in the first inning off Brett Anderson on their way to an 11-3 victory.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, it marked just the third time the Pirates had scored as many as five runs in the first inning at Chavez Ravine. The other two times were against Hall of Famer Don Sutton on May 20, 1966 and June 9, 1972.
Willie Stargell had the big blow with a two-run double in the 1966 games while Roberto Clemente, Donn Clendenon and Bill Mazeroski hit RBI singles. The Pirates went on to a 7-3 victory as Pete Mikkelsen pitched 4 2/3 scoreless innings in relief of Woodie Fryman for the win.
In 1972, Clemente, Stargell and Al Oliver hit consecutive RBI singles and two more runs scored on a throwing error by shortstop Bill Russell. That was all the runs the Pirates scored as they won 5-1 behind a three-hitter by Steve Blass.
The Pirates used the home run ball to build a 5-0 lead last Sunday as Jordy Mercer hit a two-run shot and Sean Rodriguez connected for a three-run blast.
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Center fielder Andrew McCutchen showed signs of breaking out of his season-long slump earlier this week when he had two hits in each game of a three-game sweep of the Giants at San Francisco.
That marked the first time in nearly a year that the five-time All-Star had that many consecutive multi-hit games. He had four in a row last Aug. 23-26.
McCutchen then went 0-for-4 on Friday night in a 6-5 loss to the Miami Marlins.
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Left fielder Starling Marte entered the weekend with 41 stolen bases, equaling last season’s total. That makes him first Pirates’ player with consecutive 40-steal seasons since Tony Womack had 60 in 1997 and 58 in 1998.