Postgame reaction from the Pirates' clubhouse

Postgame comments from the Pirates' clubhouse

Clint Hurdle

On Pedro's big night:

He's been patient. He's been stubborn with his approach. Paid off for him tonight.

It was not only the home run, I thought the stolen base was key. He puts a lot of focus on running the bases and he is, arguably, as good of a base runner as we have once he gets on. His awareness is really, really good.

On Cole's quality start on a night in which he didn't have his best stuff:

His command was kind of come and go tonight. The one pitch he'd like to have back is the elevated changeup to Carpenter ... He competes, a lot of first pitch strikes which helped his case. When all is said and done, to average 15 pitches on a night you weren't sharp just speaks to his ability to face a good lineup and find a way to get things done when he doesn't have his best stuff.

On Martin helping Cole with his defense; settling down Justin Wilson:

It helps every pitcher that takes the mound. We've had 17 stops behind the plate. 17 for 17, with Tony and Russell catching. 26 of the 35 innings we've played.

Tonight again, he blocks a ball in the ninth inning, with the score where it stands, it's just the way he's built. And, to take the time out and calm Justin down and get his cutter back in play, which reset his release point, to get him to finish off that inning. If he doesn't finish off that inning, he's going to leave with a bad taste in his mouth. I've got to get another pitcher up ... the mound visit by Russell played an important role as well. So that whole package, we know how fortunate we are to have him. He adds value to everything we do.

Gerrit Cole

Cole credits his defense:

Really well played ballgame on our part. I can't say enough about what Russ did. I'm not sure there are any other catchers in the entire world who would be able to handle some of the stuff that I threw at him tonight. So, I think first and foremost he deserves a lot of the credit.

And then we made great plays all night. Ishikawa knocking down that line drive from Bourjos and tracking down a couple fly balls with the wind swirling out there, it's not as easy as it looks. So, it was just a good ballgame, in general.

It's just fun to win ballgames ... On a night like this when we can play so well as a team, it's a good feeling walking away from the ballpark.

On pitching against the Cardinals:

You can't say enough about how good they are. I'm glad I was able to get this one out of the way. I think it was a good team win. We jumped on them pretty good.

Travis Ishikawa

On the silent treatment he received after returning to the dugout following this home run:

I started laughing inside because usually it's reserved for your first career homer. And I know that wasn't my first one. So it was a little surprising at first, but it was good. It's makes me feel like they care, and it was great. Because when I hit my first career home run I didn't receive the silent treatment, just the normal high-fives, so I guess I'll take it now.