PITTSBURGH _ All night Wednesday, Gerrit Cole controlled the game. From the bare-handed completion of a behind-the-back putout to his pitch efficiency to his hard-hit single that led to a run, Cole gave the Pirates the start their rotation needed.
Cole pitched his first complete game and the Pirates' lineup assembled three big innings against the Seattle Mariners in a 10-1 victory at PNC Park, which split the two-game series.
The Pirates are off Thursday before beginning a three-game series in Milwaukee on Friday. After that series comes the non-waiver trade deadline, at 4 p.m. Monday, and the Pirates front office would like to add a pitcher to augment Cole and the rest of the staff.
The Pirates had 14 hits, seven of them for extra bases. Andrew McCutchen went 3 for 5 with a home run, a double and four RBIs. Jordy Mercer went 3 for 5 with a double, Jung Ho Kang drove in four runs, and Starling Marte and David Freese each had two hits.
When Cole is right, he's a difference maker. The Pirates lacked his services from mid-June until after the All-Star break due to a triceps strain. He scuffled in his first start back, but has looked like himself in the past two: two runs allowed, with one walk and 13 strikeouts, in 15 innings. Wednesday he struck out six without walking a batter and allowed one run and three hits.
Cole neutralized a Mariners lineup featuring six lefties and a switch-hitter among position players. He changed their eye level with high fastballs and low curves.
In the first inning, Cole escaped a bit of a jam. Norichika Aoki led off with a double and Cole hit Robinson Cano. Kyle Seager grounded into a force-out, Adam Lind struck out on a curveball to end the threat.
Aoki and Cano were the only Mariners to reach scoring position until the sixth. Cole retired 13 of 14 batters between the first and the fifth, with Seager's one-out single in the fourth the lone exception.
Cole's defense helped him all night. When Freese bobbled a grounder in the third, he flipped the ball behind his back to Cole, who bare-handed it and stepped on the bag. In the seventh, three plays contributed to a perfect inning. Josh Harrison was perfectly positioned in the shift to field Lind's grounder; Sean Rodriguez made a running catch on a fly ball at the warning track; and Jung Ho Kang dived to stop a hard grounder down the line, then made a strong throw to first for the final out.
Rodriguez made a diving catch at a full sprint in right-center field to end the eighth.
The Pirates did all their scoring against Mariners lefty James Paxton in the third, when they sent nine men to the plate. Aoki slid for Josh Harrison's hit to left field but missed, and the ball rolled to the wall. Harrison thought about an inside-the-park home run but stumbled between third and home, settling for a leadoff triple. He gave the extra-base-hit salute flat on his face atop third base.
Jordy Mercer doubled, driving in one run. Freese reached on an infield single and McCutchen doubled home another run. Paxton hit Marte to load the bases and walked Jung Ho Kang, giving the Pirates a 3-0 lead.
Kang hit a bases-clearing double in the seventh inning.
