The 2013 National League Wild Card Game was a
during
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...
's (MLB)
2013 postseason played between the
National League
National League often refers to:
*National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada
*National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...
's (NL) two
wild card teams, the
Cincinnati Reds
The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. The Reds compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Divisi ...
and the
Pittsburgh Pirates
The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central ...
. It was held at
PNC Park
PNC Park is a baseball stadium on the North Shore (Pittsburgh), North Shore of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is the fifth location to serve as the ballpark of Major League Baseball's Pittsburgh Pirates. Opened during the 2001 Major League Baseb ...
in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...
, on October 1, 2013.
The Pirates won by a 6–2 score and advanced to play the
St. Louis Cardinals
The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Centra ...
in the
NL Division Series. The game was televised on
TBS, and was also broadcast on
ESPN Radio
ESPN Radio, which is alternatively branded platform-agnostically as ESPN Audio, is an American sports radio network and extension of the ESPN television network. It was launched on January 1, 1992, under the banner "SportsRadio ESPN". The netw ...
.
The game marked the first postseason appearance by the Pirates since
1992
1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations.
Events January
* January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General.
* January 6
** The Republ ...
and the Pirates' victory gave the team their first postseason series win since the
1979 World Series
The 1979 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1979 season. The 76th edition of the World Series was a best-of-seven playoff between the National League (NL) champion Pittsburgh Pirates (98–64) and the Am ...
. This was the third postseason appearance for the Reds in four seasons. It was the sixth postseason meeting between the Pirates and Reds (the others being in the
NLCS
The National League Championship Series (NLCS) is a Playoff format#Best-of-seven playoff, best-of-seven playoff and one of two League Championship Series comprising the penultimate round of Major League Baseball's (MLB) Major League Baseball po ...
in
1970
Events
January
* January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC.
* January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...
,
1972
Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, ...
,
1975
It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe.
Events
January
* January 1 – Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...
,
1979
Events
January
* January 1
** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...
, and
1990
Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...
). Pirates manager
Clint Hurdle
Clinton Merrick Hurdle (born July 30, 1957) is an American former professional baseball outfielder and manager who currently serves as both the interim bench and hitting coach for the Colorado Rockies of Major League Baseball (MLB). Hurdle played ...
made his first postseason appearance since competing in the
2007 World Series
The 2007 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 2007 season. The 103rd edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff between the National League (NL) champion Colorado Rockies and the American ...
as manager of the
Colorado Rockies
The Colorado Rockies are an American professional baseball team based in Denver. The Rockies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Division. Th ...
, while
Dusty Baker
Johnnie B "Dusty" Baker Jr. (born June 15, 1949) is an American former professional baseball outfielder and Manager (baseball), manager in Major League Baseball (MLB). He played in MLB for 19 seasons, most notably with the Los Angeles Dodgers. D ...
fell to 0–3 in postseason appearances as manager of the Reds, a position from which he was relieved three days after the loss. The loss continued the Reds' postseason win drought, active since the
1995 National League Division Series
The 1995 National League Division Series (NLDS), the opening round of the National League side of the 1995 MLB Postseason, began on Tuesday, October 3, and ended on Saturday, October 7, with the champions of the three NL divisions—along with a ...
.
Game results
Line score
After a scoreless first inning and a half, the Pirates secured the first runs of the game with home runs by
Marlon Byrd
Marlon Jerrard Byrd (born August 30, 1977) is an Americans, American former professional baseball outfielder, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Philadelphia Phillies, Washington Nationals, Texas Rangers (baseball), Texas Rangers, ...
and
Russell Martin in the bottom of the 2nd inning. Martin's home run came after Reds starting pitcher
Johnny Cueto
Johnny Cueto Ortiz (; born February 15, 1986) is a Dominican professional baseball pitcher who is a free agent. He has previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Cincinnati Reds, Kansas City Royals, San Francisco Giants, Chicago W ...
,
having his name chanted mockingly by over 40,000 Pirates fans, dropped the baseball from the mound. Martin hit a home run on the next pitch.
In the bottom of the third,
Pedro Alvarez hit a sacrifice-fly to
Shin-Soo Choo
Shin-Soo Choo (; ; born July 13, 1982) is a South Korean former professional baseball outfielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Seattle Mariners, Cleveland Indians, Cincinnati Reds, and Texas Rangers, before ending his car ...
, which allowed
Andrew McCutchen to score.
In the top of the fourth, with Choo and
Ryan Ludwick
Ryan Andrew Ludwick (born July 13, 1978) is an American former professional baseball outfielder. He has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Texas Rangers, Cleveland Indians, St. Louis Cardinals, San Diego Padres, Pittsburgh Pirates, an ...
on base,
Jay Bruce
Jay Allen Bruce (born April 3, 1987) is an American former professional baseball right fielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Cincinnati Reds, New York Mets, Cleveland Indians, Seattle Mariners, Philadelphia Phillies and New Y ...
hit a groundball single to Pirates left-fielder
Starling Marte, allowing Choo to score. In the bottom of the fourth, Marte and
Neil Walker scored off RBI hits by Walker and Byrd, respectively. In the bottom of the 7th inning,
Russell Martin hit another home run. The Reds could only further respond with a Choo home run off of
Tony Watson. The Pirates would maintain their lead and go on to win, with
Jason Grilli closing the game.
References
External links
2013 National League Wild Card Gameat ''Baseball Reference''
{{DEFAULTSORT:2013 National League Wild Card Game
National League Wild Card Game
Cincinnati Reds postseason
Pittsburgh Pirates postseason
2013 in sports in Pennsylvania
Major League Baseball Wild Card Game
October 2013 sports events in the United States
2013 in Pittsburgh