Gaby emerges as option against righties

CINCINNATI -- From the outset, Clint Hurdle said first base would not be a "cookie-cutter" platoon, and Gaby Sanchez can look forward to facing more right-handers after drilling a couple of cookies into the seats Monday night.

Both of Sanchez's homers came off righties, starter Homer Bailey and reliever J.J. Hoover. It was his third start of the season against a right-hander, most of which have gone to lefty-hitting Travis Ishikawa.

"Yeah, we'll continue to pick some spots where the at-bats best suit him," Hurdle said Tuesday prior to the resumption of Monday night's suspended game. "It'll be [based] a little bit on matchups, but it won't be all hard numbers. We're old-school here. We'll also go with what our eyes and gut tell us."

Neil Walker and Sanchez remained in the lineup for the game picked up in the top of the seventh, with the teams tied at 7, so they had a shot at an unprecedented MLB feat: Hitting back-to-back home runs three times in a game. They were due to come up fifth and sixth.

As it was, Walker and Sanchez could boast of something accomplished only once in Pirates history, 60 years ago. On April 27, 1954, Toby Atwell and Jerry Lynch homered back-to-back in the sixth and eighth innings. That also came in Cincinnati, at old Crosley Field.