LOS ANGELES — Three hours before the first pitch Tuesday, John Jaso was seated in front of his locker in the visiting clubhouse at Dodger Stadium completing the final few squares of a crossword puzzle. He was interrupted and asked to describe the difficulty of life as a pinch-hitter.
“You have to watch the game and guess along with what the game is dictating,” Jaso said. “You don’t want to be caught off-guard. You’ve got to keep your adrenaline in check.”
In the Pirates’ 4-3 10-inning loss Tuesday, Jaso lugged a .141 average into the batter’s box in the eighth inning and clobbered a go-ahead home run off Los Angles Dodgers reliever Pedro Baez.