Gästebuch » Cole Tucker’s day began with him frantically packing u

PITTSBURGH (AP) — p what he could in his Indianapolis apartment in the middle of the night Rollie Fingers Jersey , grabbing a 5 a.m. flight to Pittsburgh with fellow Pirates call-up Bryan Reynolds and trying not to be overwhelmed by the prospect of his major league debut.It ended with a 431-foot homer into shrubs beyond the center field fence at PNC Park, an unlikely curtain call, a series of selfies in a downpour, 510 unread text messages (and counting) and a rain-shortened 3-1 Pirates victory over the San Francisco Giants on Saturday that left the 22-year-old both elated and exhausted.Tucker admitted he didn’t sleep one bit after getting the call around 1 a.m. telling him he was headed to the big leagues after Pittsburgh lost starting shortstop Erik Gonzalez to a broken collarbone following a collision with center fielder Starling Marte on Friday night.Funny, the rookie didn’t look a bit tired when he turned on a 91 mph sinker from Derek Holland (1-3) and deposited it between the “T” and the “E” in the “Pirates” bush for a two-run shot in the fifth that put Pittsburgh ahead to stay.The team’s first-round pick in the 2014 draft kept it together until rounding second, when he saw his teammates celebrating in the dugout and the crowd on its feet. He made the “I Love You” sign to his family in the stands and — after some prodding — stepped back onto the field for a curtain call.Not bad for a self-proclaimed “skinny, not home-run-hitter guy.”“It was loud man, people were screaming,” Tucker said. “It was really, really cool. I might never do that again in my life. But to say that I did that and for my family to be here to see that and to introduce myself to this city and this club in that fashion is like http://www.athleticsfanproshop.com/authentic-khris-davis-jersey , storybook.”An arrival that gave the Pirates a welcome jolt after losing Gonzalez for at least two months and Marte for 10 days and possibly more after they smacked into each other at full speed while trying to track down a fly ball to center field. Marte is dealing with bruises to both his abdomen and right leg, while Gonzalez will have his left arm in a sling indefinitely.For a day anyway, the NL Central-leading Pirates overcame their absences thanks in part to the kid with the shaggy hair and the palpable joy, the one who became the first Pittsburgh player to homer in his first big league game since Marte did it on July 26, 2012, against Houston.“I didn’t show up thinking, oh, I’m stressed thinking Marte got hurt or Erik got hurt or what have you,'” Tucker said. “But it definitely felt like we needed a pick-me-up today, losing two of our boys. So it was sweet to go out and do that.”Reynolds Dave Henderson Jersey , acquired from the Giants in a January 2018 trade that sent Andrew McCutchen to San Francisco, laced a single off Holland in the fourth for first major league hit. Jung Ho Kang added his third home run and Jameson Taillon (1-2) allowed one run on four hits with a walk and three strikeouts to win for the first time in five starts this season for the Pirates, who have won five straight.Steven Duggar laced an RBI single off Taillon in the fifth to tie it, but Tucker’s shot off Holland in the bottom of the inning — one pitch after Tucker stepped out of the box because he was startled by a lightning bolt that flashed over the city skyline — was quickly followed by a delay of 3 hours, 8 minutes, before the game was called. The Giants have dropped four straight and five of six.“If it wasn’t for bad luck, right now we wouldn’t have any,” San Francisco manager Bruce Bochy said. “That’s how things have been going.”Holland struck out seven in five innings but Pittsburgh punished his mistakes. Kang crushed a 79 mph breaking ball and sent it well into the seats in left field leading off the fourth. Pablo Reyes started the bottom of the fifth with a walk, moved to second on Taillon’s sacrifice and trotted home on Tucker’s memorable swing.Asked if he had a problem with Tucker coming out for a curtain call — one Tucker made while Holland was in the middle of striking out Kang — Holland shrugged.“The kid is living in the moment,” Holland said. “It’s a major league debut and he hit a homer. Good for him. It’s not what I wanted. That’s for sure.”TRAINER’S ROOMPirates: Held 2B Adam Frazier out of the lineup with back spasms. … RHP Jordan Lyles played catch and should be ready for his next start. Lyles took a line drive off his pitching hand against the Giants on Friday.UP NEXTThe weekend series concludes Sunday when Chris Archer (1-0 Dennis Eckersley Jersey , 2.00 ERA) faces San Francisco’s Dereck Rodriguez (3-3, 3.63). Saturday was a continuation of this depressing spring training run of injured Braves players."The theme for the Braves coming into their eighth Spring Training game of the season was to just avoid any more injuries as Atlanta is dealing with a slough of them currently. The Braves opponent for Saturday’s matinee affair were the re-building Detroit Tigers as the two team met in Lakeland, FL for their second face off of the spring.For the Tigers it was Jordan Zimmerman, formerly of the Braves division rival Nationals, getting the nod on the mound to go up against Max Fried. There was action right away in the first inning with the Braves getting a quick run off of Zimmerman thanks to a Johan Camargo double to left-center field which scored Ender Inciarte, but that was all Atlanta could muster. Detroit responded quickly with two runs of their own though off the bats of Nick Castellanos and Miguel Cabrera (who is having a torrid spring) to put the Braves in an early hole. Things only got worse from there.You’ll recall that the Braves main goal of the day was to just escape with their team intact and un-injured, but the bad luck of this spring continued today for Atlanta as Fried was forced from the game with two outs in the bottom of the second inning due to a cut which developed on his left pinky finger.Atlanta continuously struggled outside of their first frame luck on the offensive side of the ball against Zimmerman, who completed three innings with four strikeouts. The struggles continued against Shane Greene, Blaine Hardy, Buck Farmer and Matt Hall who all completed scoreless innings taking the game into the seventh inning stretch.For the Tigers it was a walk in the park on offense as they watched Brandon Dixon and Cabrera knock two Santiago Casilla Jersey , two-run, home runs over the fences in the third and sixth innings respectively. Pete Kozma added another blow in the sixth inning with an RBI double that put Detroit ahead 7-to-1. Atlanta pitchers Chad Sobotka, Jacob Webb and Kyle Muller all gave up runs in the loss to Detroit.The Braves were able to get some runs back in the top of the eighth inning after Crisitan Pache entered the game with a pinch-hit double. Then, after a walk to Drew Lugbauer (Slugbauer to some of you), Garrett Schwartz went big fly to right field for a three-run blast taking the deficit down to 7-4.Atlanta was unable to scratch anymore runs across from there and took the loss to bring their Spring Training record (which is meaningless really) to an even .500 at 4-4.If you’d like to look for some bright spots, William Contreras (the Braves future at catcher) went 2-for-2 on the day along with Inciarte who went 2-for-3 at the plate. The day was soured though by news of Fried being forced to leave the game with injury. As you may very well know the Braves are having some of the worst luck I’ve ever seen this spring with injuries. The Braves will hope for better luck tomorrow when they face the Marlins in Kissimmee, FL. Stay tuned.