Pirates walk their way to 2nd straight win over Marlins

Field Level Media|published: Fri 29th March, 22:19 2024

Mar 28, 2024; Miami, Florida, USA; Pittsburgh Pirates shortstop Oneil Cruz (15) trots to home plate in front of Miami Marlins catcher Nick Fortes (4) during the eighth inning, at loanDepot Park. credits: Michael Laughlin-USA TODAY Sports

Ke'Bryan Hayes had two hits, scored twice and drove in two runs as the visiting Pittsburgh Pirates capitalized on A.J. Puk's control problems in a 7-2 win over the Miami Marlins on Friday.

Oneil Cruz and Connor Joe each had two hits and drove in a run for Pittsburgh, which drew seven walks and improved to 2-0 after beating Miami 6-5 in 12 innings on Thursday.

Ryder Ryan (1-0) threw 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief for the win. Josh Fleming gave up one run over three innings for the save. Pirates starter Martin Perez allowed one run on six hits with three walks and two strikeouts over 4 1/3 innings.

Puk (0-1) issued a career-high six walks and gave up four runs on three hits with one strikeout over two-plus innings in his first career start.

Jake Burger, Tim Anderson and Bryan De La Cruz each had two hits for Miami, which grounded into four double plays.

Pittsburgh took an early lead with two runs in the second inning. After Puk issued back-to-back walks to open the inning, Cruz singled to load the bases and Jared Triolo drew a bases-loaded walk to bring in the first run.

Puk allowed another run when Henry Davis scored on Michael A. Taylor's sacrifice fly to right fielder De La Cruz, who threw Cruz out at third for the second out. Puk avoided further damage when Joe grounded out to end the inning.

Puk's control issues continued in the third. Bryan Reynolds drew a leadoff walk and scored on Hayes' double. After Hayes moved to third on a wild pitch, Andrew McCutchen walked and Edward Olivares singled in a run.

Bryan Hoeing then replaced Puk with two runners on and limited the damage with three quick outs.

Miami pushed a run across in the bottom of the third on Burger's RBI single to left field.

Pittsburgh moved ahead 5-1 in the sixth inning when Taylor drew a two-out walk and scored on Joe's double to right field. Hoeing exited after allowing two hits over four innings of one-run ball.

Pittsburgh added a run in the seventh when Hayes hit a leadoff single and came around to score on Cruz's two-out single against Burch Smith.

Hayes hit a sacrifice fly in the eighth.

Anderson came home on Christian Bethancourt's groundout in the bottom of the ninth to close out the scoring.

—Field Level Media

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