MIAMI _ The numbers didn't look appealing on the pitching line. But Marlins manager Don Mattingly insisted that Trevor Richards' first two big-league starts were "OK."
Hardly a ringing endorsement for a young pitcher. But Richards was the Marlins Minor League Pitcher of the Year in 2017 and he impressed in spring training by allowing only one run in 12 innings.
That Richards showed up for the first time on the main stage Saturday at Marlins Park, and the result was a lot more than OK.
The right-hander was superb on a night when goose eggs dominated the scoreboard, holding a good-hitting Pirates lineup without a run and two hits for seven innings.
Unfortunately for Miami, the Marlins didn't find their way home either in a hard-luck 1-0 loss.
The Pirates scored the only run in the ninth inning on a bunt-single by Corey Dickerson to the right of the mound past reliever Brad Ziegler.
That brought home Starling Marte, who reached on a dribbler to the left of the mound, just beating Ziegler's throw for a hit. Josh Bell followed with a hard-hit grounder to second that Starlin Castro couldn't handle and was ruled a hit. That sent Marte to third and brought up Dickerson.
JB Shuck, who tied a team record with four hits in his Marlins debut on Friday, stranded runners on the corners in the eighth when he grounded out to second.
Richards will have to wait for his first big-league win, but he pitched well enough to earn one on most nights.
Richards stymied the Pirates except for Francisco Cervelli, who had both hits. He had thrown only 82 pitches but left for a pinch-hitter in a hitting starved game reminiscent of the dead-ball era.
It was the second dazzling outing by a Marlins rookie this week after Jarlin Garcia held the Mets without a hit or run for six innings on Wednesday.
Richards came into his third start with 8.64 ERA, lasting no more than 41/3 innings in his previous outings against the Red Sox and Phillies. But he held his own Sunday in Philadelphia against Jake Arrieta in a game the Marlins won.
He was sharper than Pirates ace Jameson Taillon, who was coming off a one-hit shutout against the Reds.
Taillon blanked the Marlins for six innings on four hits before exiting after 93 pitches.
Richards set the tone with an eight-pitch first inning and kept his pitch count low by staying around the zone and inducing early contact. He got nine outs on grounders, and few balls were struck hard.
Richards didn't allow a hit until Cervelli bounced a ground-rule double into the Clevelander nightclub in left field with one out in the fifth. Cervelli advanced to third, but Richards kept him there by retiring his counterpart Taillon on a bouncer to third.
Cervelli lined a 3-0 pitch to left for a single in the seventh.
Richards only struck out two, getting Josh Harrison to swing through a changeup up in the zone in the third. He ended the fourth by getting Bell looking at a 92-mph fastball that appeared inside on FoxTrax, but Statcast had it right on the inside corner.
