Dickerson Bunt Single In 9th Lifts Pirates Over Marlins 1-0
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MIAMI (AP) — Corey Dickerson's bunt single in the ninth inning scored the only run and the Pittsburgh Pirates won a game of small ball, beating the Miami Marlins 1-0 on Saturday night.
Pirates starter Jameson Taillon and Miami counterpart Trevor Richards kept the game scoreless into the later innings.
Brad Ziegler (0-3) retired the first batter in the Pittsburgh ninth before Starling Marte reached on a bunt hit. Josh Bell followed with an infield hit that sent Marte to third.
Dickerson then popped up a bunt that landed between Ziegler and second baseman Starlin Castro, allowing Marte to score. Dickerson is 16 for 36 (.444) with nine RBIs during a nine-game hitting streak.
The Pirates had just two hits, both by Francisco Cervelli, entering the ninth. Pittsburgh improved to 10-4 to start the season.
A crowd of 26,816 watched the pitching duel.
George Kontos (1-1) worked a scoreless inning in relief and Felipe Vazquez tossed a flawless ninth for his fifth save in five opportunities.
Taillon threw six scoreless innings to lower his ERA to 0.89 in three starts, and has thrown 15 consecutive shutout innings. He allowed four hits and three walks, striking out two.
Richards pitched seven scoreless innings allowed two hits and one walk. He struck out two while throwing 49 of his 82 pitches for strikes.
Miami stranded a runner on third base in the second, fourth, and eighth innings.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Marlins: C J.T. Realmuto (back) homered in his first rehab assignment with Single-A Jupiter on Saturday. . RHP Dan Straily (forearm) is scheduled to make his second rehab start on Wednesday with Single-A Jupiter. . LHP Wei-Yin Chen (elbow) threw three innings in an extended spring game on Thursday. . 3B Martin Prado (hamstring) played five innings in an extended spring game on Friday.
UP NEXT
Pirates: RHP Ivan Nova (1-1, 5.19 ERA) will start the series finale on Sunday. Nova has won both of his starts against the Marlins without allowing an earned run in 15 innings.
Marlins: RHP Jose Urena (0-2, 5.06) has allowed six runs in 15 innings for a 3.60 ERA since allowing three runs in the first inning to the Cubs on opening day.
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