PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Last season he hit 38 home runs for Hiroshima in the Japanese League. Tuesday Seiya Suzuki hit his second and third home runs in the Major Leagues in a 2-1 Cubs win.
The 27-year-old signed with Chicago in the offseason for five-years, $85 million. Suzuki has hit no fewer than 25 home runs in each of the last six seasons in Japan.
His second home run off Anthony Banda in the seventh inning gave the Cubs a 2-0 lead.
"He left the ball inside to a guy that is a pretty good hitter," said Pirates Manager Derek Shelton. "I think Major League Baseball is going to find that out pretty quickly and he hit his second home run. Two good swings by Suzuki today and that was the difference in the game."
He spoiled a solid performance from a former Cub. Suzuki was the only player to score in Jose Quintana's Pirates debut lasting 5.1 innings, five hits, a couple walks and three strikeouts.
"He was good, gave up one run," Shelton said. "Went through a predominately right-handed lineup, kept them off the barrel with the exception of Suzuki."
"I feel good," Quintana said. "For the first start, all my stuff was pretty good. A lot of off-speed today and really short at-bats and that's what I'm looking for. If I keep throwing the ball like that, I will get good results."
"You want to get the win, that's the reason we are here. Hopefully next time will get a better chance."
Quintana would hope for more, or any, run support. The Pirates were 0 for 10 with runners in scoring position.
"They kept us off the barrel when they needed to," Shelton said. "Smyly did a good job. Their bullpen did a good job. We had opportunities to score, we just couldn't come up with a big hit."
The only run scoring on a Bryan Reynolds home run in the eighth off Mychal Givens.
"He's really tough, I was looking for a change-up elevated," Reynolds said. "He threw a change-up. I kind of blacked out and pulled the trigger on it."
Moment of silence
The Pirates payed tribute to Steelers quarterback Dwayne Haskins, who died Saturday in South Florida, by leading off their moment of silence with his picture on the Jumbotron. Emcee Greg Brown also asked for fans to remember the people of Ukraine and several former Pirates who died including Bill Virdon.
The Pirates announced 34, 458 fans for the Home Opener
Up Next
RHP Zach Thompson makes his Pirates debut against Cubs righty Kyle Hendricks at 12:35 on NewsRadio KDKA (100.1 FM and 1020 AM).
