A few hours after finding outthat injured catcher Ryan Doumit will be out for at least two months, the Pirates started picking each other up and chipping in.
"I feel extremely bad for Ryan," manager John Russell said. "We'll be fine as a team. Guys will pull together. We'll move on and continue to do things the way we've done them." That means strong starting pitching, clutch hitting and solid defense ? the ingredients which added up to a 3-2 victory against the Florida Marlins tonight.
Adam LaRoche, batting in Doumit's customary cleanup spot, swatted a run-scoring single in the first inning.
Jason Jaramillo, who took over behind the plate, mashed an RBI double off the Clemente Wall in the second.
Freddy Sanchez provided a dash of Doumit-style power with a solo homer in the third.
Shortstop Jack Wilson flashed some glove. He gobbled up Cody Ross' sharp grounder in the fourth, then turned a bang-bang, 6-3 double play in the seventh. In the ninth, Wilson made a diving stop and threw out Dan Uggla.
Starter Jeff Karstens (1-0) righted himself after a bumpy debut outing. The right-hander worked six innings and allowed a run on three hits, walked two and struck out three.
Karstens gave up two hits in the first inning, but settled down and retired nine of the final 10 batters he faced.
By suffocating the Marlins, Karstens snapped a long personal losing streak. In eight starts, after taking a perfect game into the eighth inning Aug. 6 in Arizona, Karstens had gone 0-6 with two no-decisions and a 5.80 ERA.
By getting through two turns of Florida's lineup, Karstens put himself in good shape for the victory. When he pitches at least six innings, Karstens is 5-4 with a 2.74 ERA.
Karstens might have been able to squeeze out another inning ? he threw 86 pitches, 53 of them for strikes ? but gave way to a pinch-hitter in the sixth when the Pirates loaded the bases with two outs.
For the third game in a row, Nyjer Morgan led off the first inning by getting on base. He lined a single to left field off Marlins righty Anibal Sanchez (1-1).
Freddy Sanchez singled to right. With one out, LaRoche lined a single up the middle, scoring Morgan.
Andy LaRoche began the second with a double down the third base line. With one out, Jaramillo hit a liner that hit near the top of the right field wall. It was Jaramillo's first RBI in the majors.
The Marlins got a run back in the third. With two outs, John Baker walked on five pitches. Hanley Ramirez doubled to center, scoring Baker.
Sanchez homered to left, his second of the season, leading off the bottom of the third.
Going into the game, the Marlins were hitting .234 over the first six innings of games. From the seventh inning on, they were batting .316.
So, even though the Pirates took a 3-1 lead into the eighth, the Marlins made things interesting. Cameron Maybin led off the inning by crushing a 447-foot, solo homer off reliever Tyler Yates.
Lefty John Grabow replaced Yates and got pinch-hitter Alfredo Amezaga to foul out on the first pitch. However, it took Grabow 26 more pitches ? and a bit of drama ? to get the next two outs.
Emilio Bonifacio singled to right and pinch-hitter Ronny Paulino walked. Ramirez, who doubled in a run in the third, popped out on a full-count pitch.
That brought up Ross Gload, who was a last-minute addition to the lineup when Jorge Cantu was scratched due to a sore left wrist. Gload got ahead 3-0, but struck out swinging.
