Pittsburgh, PA (SportsNetwork.com) - Neil Walker belted a leadoff homer in the
bottom of the 10th inning to lift the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 1-0 victory over
the Chicago Cubs.
Walker, a Pittsburgh native, drove a 3-2 pitch from Carlos Villanueva (0-1)
into the right field seats to send the largest crowd in PNC Park history home
happy.
"This one feels pretty special," Walker said. "This is a special day for this
team, this organization. We've come a long way."
The blast made a winner of Bryan Morris (1-0), who worked around a one-out
single in the top of the 10th with a pickoff that was overturned in
Pittsburgh's favor on a replay challenge.
Pirates manager Clint Hurdle asked for a review after Emilio Bonifacio was
called safe on a pickoff attempt. The umpires conferred with headquarters in
New York and reversed the call.
It was the second challenge of the game.
The first use of expanded replay in the majors occurred in the fifth inning
when the Cubs put together the first threat of the game after Nate Schierholtz
led off with a single and Darwin Barney drew a walk. Jeff Samardzija tried to
bunt the runners over, but Francisco Liriano quickly fielded the ball in front
of the mound, threw to third for the first out and Pedro Alvarez fired back to
first for the double play.
Cubs manager Rick Renteria calmly and slowly walked toward first base umpire
Bob Davidson to question the close call and decided he wanted to challenge it.
The review, which took about two minutes, upheld Davidson's decision.
"It was a combination of Samardzjia's reaction and what we were looking at,"
Renteria said of the challenge.
The Pirates are trying to build off a banner 2013 season. They earned a
National League wild card berth last year for their first playoff appearance
since 1992 and the fans packed the house on Monday with a PNC Park attendance
record of 39,833. Andrew McCutchen, last year's NL MVP, went 1-for-3 and
Travis Ishikawa added two hits.
Liriano, last year's NL Comeback Player of the Year, went the first six
innings for Pittsburgh and surrendered four hits with three walks and 10
strikeouts.
Samardzija, who threw eight innings of two-hit shutout ball in Chicago's 3-1
win at Pittsburgh last year on Opening Day, yielded five hits in seven
scoreless innings on Monday. He walked two and struck out three.
Bonifacio had four hits for the Cubs, who are coming off their fourth straight
losing season at 66-96. Chicago had plenty of chances Monday, but finished a
dismal 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position.
The Cubs threatened in the sixth when Junior Lake led off with a base hit to
left and Starlin Castro walked. Liriano then fanned Anthony Rizzo and got Mike
Olt on a pop up before striking out Welington Castillo to end the inning.
Pittsburgh had a great chance to score in the bottom of the sixth after
Starling Marte led off with a double and McCutchen drew a one-out walk.
Alvarez then ripped a pitch up the middle, but the Cubs had him played that
way to start an easy double play.
Bonifacio began the top of the eighth with a double and became the first
runner to reach third on a bunt, but he was caught in a rundown after Castro
grounded to second and Rizzo popped up to keep the game scoreless.
Game Notes
Liriano tied a Pirate record for strikeouts on Opening Day. Bob Veale set the
mark in 1965 against San Francisco and John Candelaria matched it against St.
Louis in 1983 before A.J. Burnett also accomplished the feat last year against
the Cubs ... The Pirates last played extra innings in a home season opener in
1979, a loss to Montreal, and last won an extra-inning season opener at home
in 1965 against San Francisco ... Before the game, McCutchen received his MVP
award from former Pirate MVP Barry Bonds, who was given a warm ovation by the
PNC Park fans ... Liriano was given his second Opening Day assignment and
first since 2009 with the Twins. He was the ninth straight different Opening
Day starter for the Pirates, the longest such streak since 1900. The last
Pirate to start consecutive openers was Oliver Perez in 2005-06 ... The
Pirates improved to 69-59 in season openers, including 16-15 at home ... The
Cubs are now 75-62-2 on Opening Day ... This was the 22nd meeting between the
Cubs and Pirates on Opening Day. Pittsburgh improved to 13-9 ... The Pirates
are wearing a No. 4 patch on their uniform sleeves this season to honor the
late Ralph Kiner, who is second on the club's all-time home run list with 301
and died this past February ... The teams will take Tuesday off and will
resume the three-game series on Wednesday with Charlie Morton set to start for
Pittsburgh and Edwin Jackson scheduled to take the ball for Chicago.
