PITTSBURGH (AP) ― Gerrit Cole is off to a perfect start in the major leagues. The rookie, however, feels he has been far from perfect.
Cole won again, getting home run help from Pedro Alvarez and pitching the Pittsburgh Pirates past the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-3 Sunday.
Cole (2-0) allowed three runs on seven hits and no walks in 5 2/3 innings. The top pick from the 2011 draft won in his big league debut last week.
“I’m really happy to be able to come up here and pitch well enough to help the team win,” Cole said. “But I also know I need to do more.
“I’ve only gone 6 1/3 and 5 2/3 innings in my two starts. I need to get deeper than that. We’re getting the point in the season where the bullpen is going to start having aches and pains and I need to eat up more innings to help those guys out. That’s why I’m here,” he said.
Cole wasn’t as sharp as he was in his debut against San Francisco when he took a shutout into the seventh inning. Pirates manager Clint Hurdle was pleased with this outing.
Alvarez snapped a 2-all tie when he connected off Zack Greinke (3-2) for a three-run homer in the fifth. Alvarez leads the Pirates with 15 homers.
Alvarez’s father, also named Pedro, was in the stands for Father’s Day. The elder Alvarez moved his family to New York from the Dominican Republic when his son was 1 year old, and dad made a living driving a livery cab.
Alvarez also hit a home run against the Mets in New York on Mother’s Day.
Cueto solid in return for Reds
CINCINNATI (AP) ― Solid pitching from Johnny Cueto was all the Cincinnati Reds were looking for on Sunday.
His deft work with the bat was a bonus.
Cueto pitched six solid innings and drove in a run with a perfect suicide-squeeze in his return to the rotation and Jay Bruce homered to lift the Reds over the Milwaukee Brewers 5-1.
Donald Lutz drove in two runs with a pinch-hit single, and Zack Cozart and Joey Votto each had two hits as Cincinnati rebounded after losing 6-0 on Saturday.
Cueto, activated from the disabled list Sunday, improved to 4-0 in his seventh start of the season. He allowed five hits and one run with three strikeouts and no walks as the Reds took two of three in the weekend series.
Cueto also eased the fears of manager Dusty Baker.
“We only had one worry with Johnny Cueto ― was his (shoulder) OK,” Baker said. “Other than that, we don’t worry about Johnny Cueto.”
