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Russell Martin after hitting the first of his two solo home runs, which helped Pittsburgh to its first postseason victory in 21 years. Marlon Byrd also homered.
PITTSBURGH — It was everything the Pittsburgh Pirates could have dreamed, and the best part, for them, is that now there is more to come. The Pirates, after two decades of losing seasons, have stormed into the National League division series.
They did it on Tuesday by thumping the Cincinnati Reds in the wild-card game, 6-2, before 40,487, the largest paid crowd to see a game at this sparkling riverfront ballpark.
Some fans watched from the Clemente Bridge beyond center field. A Jolly Roger flag hung proudly over the Allegheny River.
Neil Walker, a Pittsburgh native who has been with the organization longer than any other active player, fielded a grounder at second base for the final out, securing a date with the Cardinals on Thursday in St. Louis.
"I've been to A.F.C. playoffs, A.F.C. championship games," Walker said. "There were only 40,000 in the stands, but I'm pretty sure this was the loudest. This was absolutely incredible."
This park was not here in 1992, when the Pirates lost a trip to the World Series on the final play of the seventh game of the championship series. They lost their star, Barry Bonds, and lost their way.
Yet on Tuesday, they invited Doug Drabek, the pitcher who lost that infamous Game 7 in Atlanta, to throw the ceremonial first pitch. Drabek waved a black towel, then fired a strike from the top of the mound. Petrina McCutchen, the mother of Andrew McCutchen, the Pirates' star center fielder, sang a stirring national anthem.
And off the Pirates went, to play ball and play it well. Francisco Liriano stifled the Reds for seven innings, Russell Martin homered twice, and the crowd — waving flags, honking horns and wearing black at the players' suggestion — made a difference. Johnny Cueto, the Reds right-hander, never seemed to have a chance.
"If you know Johnny Cueto like I know Johnny Cueto," Reds Manager Dusty Baker said before the game, "he thrives in this type of environment."
But how could Baker have known the environment Cueto would face? A playoff game at PNC Park was a new experience, and the fans announced their presence with glee, chanting Cueto's last name mockingly in the second inning.
Cueto had started the inning by allowing a line-drive homer to the left-field seats by Marlon Byrd, the former Met acquired in August. After an out, with his sing-song name in stereo around him, Cueto inexplicably dropped the ball on the mound. He picked it up as the fans roared, and Martin homered on the next pitch.
"I've never seen a crowd actually get to the pitcher where he drops the ball," said Martin, who said he had never played before a noisier crowd. "He made a mistake the next pitch."
The Reds' catcher, Ryan Hanigan, said Cueto was laughing about the chants, and his problems were mechanical; he seemed to be falling back a bit instead of driving his body toward the plate. Through an interpreter, Cueto said he was unaffected by the noise.
"No, no, I don't care about those things," Cueto said. "I don't listen to them. It's like opening day; it's like any other game. It doesn't scare me. You may think I was scared when the ball dropped — but the ball dropped."
Rattled or not, the sequence will remembered here for a long time, and it was another triumph for Martin, who also homered in his first playoff game for the Yankees last October.
The Yankees allowed Martin to leave as a free agent for two years and $17 million. The Pirates' other major free agent, Liriano, signed for a guarantee of just $1 million after breaking his right arm in the off-season.
Fortunately for the Pirates, Liriano throws with his left arm, which stays close to his body as he delivers the pitch, adding deception to an arsenal of two-seamers, sliders and changeups. Left-handers batted just .131 off him this season.
On Tuesday, Liriano retired the first nine hitters in order and worked seven innings, allowing a run and four hits. The Reds' left-handers — Shin-Soo Choo, Joey Votto and Jay Bruce — managed one hit in eight at-bats off him.
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