PITTSBURGH _ The back end of the Pirates bullpen looks all right.
One day after left-hander Tony Watson was displaced as the closer, left-hander Felipe Rivero entered for a four-out save against the Miami Marlins Saturday and did his job, securing a 7-6 come-from-behind win. The ending sequence _ strikeout, strikeout, strikeout, groundout _ lowered Rivero's ERA from 0.58 to 0.56. Rivero earned his first save with the Pirates.
The Pirates (27-35) clawed from behind most of the afternoon, since starter Trevor Williams was charged with five runs on six hits in four innings. Their comeback arrived in the form of a three-run seventh, capped by Jordy Mercer's two-run, tying triple and John Jaso's pinch-hit, go-ahead double.
It was another short start from the rotation, but the offense picked up the slack.
The Pirates had 16 hits, and needed every last one. They were powered by their 5-6-7 hitters. Josh Bell was 3 for 4 with a triple. Andrew McCutchen was 3 for 4 with two doubles and three RBIs. Elias Diaz, the rookie catcher, had three singles and walked in the seventh-inning rally.
Williams' woes began two batters into the game. A 95-mph fastball whizzed inside and clipped Giancarlo Stanton on the right wrist. Stanton took first base and then was removed, replaced by Ichiro Suzuki. X-rays on the wrist were negative, but a rally was underway.
Christian Yelich singled. Marcell Ozuna roped an RBI double. J.T. Realmuto hit an RBI single.
The Pirates punched back, drawing the score even after three innings. Bell recorded his first career triple and added an RBI single in his first two at-bats. McCutchen struck a pair of RBI doubles, though Bell was easily thrown out at the plate on the second one.
The deadlock lasted two pitches.
Realmuto smashed a fourth-inning leadoff home run off the batter's eye in center field, and Derek Dietrich followed by fouling off four pitches and parking a solo shot in the right-field seats.
Williams survived the fourth, but not without action in the Pirates bullpen. Rookie right-hander Edgar Santana warmed in the fourth and entered for the fifth. After two quick outs, Ozuna doubled and Realmuto bounced a double past David Freese at third base. The play was ruled an RBI double, not an error by Freese, who also threw a ball away earlier in the game.
The deciding rally was sparked by McCutchen's dribbler to third, an infield single. Diaz walked, his fourth time on base, and Mercer ripped a fly ball to center field. Yelich raced back on the warning track and got his glove on the ball, but dropped it. The play went for a two-run triple, tying the game. Jaso dropped a pinch-hit, go-ahead double down the right-field line.
Right-hander Juan Nicasio _ who manger Clint Hurdle said will share the closer's role with Rivero _ entered in the eighth and allowed two singles around two strikeouts. Hurdle was aggressive. With leadoff man Dee Gordon at bat, he called upon Rivero, his dynamo left-hander. After three 99-mph fastballs, Gordon gaped at a slider for a called strike three.
Suzuki and Yelich whiffed in the ninth, and Ozuna grounded out to the end the game.
