PITTSBURGH _ Pirates rookie Cole Tucker lived out a dream on Saturday at PNC Park. From the other side of the field, the Giants suffered through a nightmare.
With rain falling in Pittsburgh, Tucker launched a two-out, two-run home run in the bottom of the fifth of his major league debut off Giants starter Derek Holland to give the Pirates a 3-1 lead.
After Tucker emerged from the dugout for an epic curtain call following his first big league hit, Holland struck out Jung-ho Kang to end the inning. Holland's 93-mile per hour fastball turned out to be the final pitch of a rain-shortened Giants loss.
With thunder and lightning expected to arrive in the Pittsburgh area on Saturday evening, the grounds crew at PNC Park pulled the tarp onto the field as the teams retreated to their respective clubhouses. The decision to bring the tarp onto the field after the fifth was a curious one, though, as precipitation stopped shortly after the game was halted.
The Giants and Pirates completed five innings and 92 minutes and likely could have played at least a sixth inning, but a downpour eventually began and after a three-hour, eight-minute delay, the game was officially called.
Tucker's home run spoiled an otherwise impressive day for Holland, who struck out seven and allowed just four hits in five innings. Despite giving up a 431-foot blast to Kang in the fourth and the 431-foot two-run shot to Tucker, Holland made only a handful of mistakes and showed an ability to locate his slider around the corners of the strike zone.
The Giants' offense didn't do Holland many favors as the club recorded four hits in five innings against Pirates starter Jameson Taillon. Right fielder Steven Duggar prevented the Giants from being shut out with a two-out, RBI single in the top of the fifth to tie the game, but Gerardo Parra hit into a double play on a line drive that could have given the Giants the lead if it avoided Kang's glove at third.
Tucker wasn't the only Pirates player to record his first major league hit Saturday as teammate and former Giants prospect Bryan Reynolds lined a 107-mile per hour single off Holland in the bottom of the fourth. Reynolds, the Giants' 2016 second-round draft choice, was traded to Pittsburgh in January, 2018 in the deal that sent Andrew McCutchen to San Francisco.
