The inability to perform one of baseball’s most basic and important tasks — hitting safely with runners in scoring postion — haunted the Pittsburgh Pirates throughout all four games of their season-opening series in Miami. The Pirates lost three of the four in walk-off fashion, including 3-2 to the Miami Marlins on Sunday at loanDepot park. The Marlins won their first series to open a season since 2000.
Matched against a team that lost 100 games last season, the Pirates hit .200 (8 for 40) with runners in scoring position in the four games, including 1 for 5 Sunday. Worse, the Pirates gifted the winning run to the Marlins in the ninth inning.
With the score tied 2-2, Derek Hill led off with an infield single against closer David Bednar. When Hill tried to steal second base, catcher Endy Rodriguez threw wildly into center field. Hill sprinted to third and scored on Bednar’s subsequent wild pitch.
The former All-Star closer was the losing pitcher in two of the three Marlins victories. The losses were even more difficult for the Pirates to accept because the pitching was mainly effective throughout the series. Left-handed starter Andrew Heany, a 12-year veteran who won a game for the Texas Rangers in the 2023 World Series, gave the Pirates their fourth consecutive strong start.
He lasted through 79 pitches in five innings while allowing only four hits, one run and a walk and striking out two. Right fielder Brian Reynolds saved a run in the sixth with a diving catch of Ot.