In the bottom of the eighth, the Pittsburgh defense mishandled three consecutive plays to help Kansas City break up Cole's scoreless gem in what Hurdle called "as good a game as he has pitched since he's been in a Pirates uniform."
Then, with a ninth-inning chance to remove Cole from the unfair hook, the Bucs ran themselves out of a potential big rally, with the inning's first out registered at the plate as third-base coach Rick Sofield waved home Starling Marte on Jung Ho Kang's double.