The Pirates split two over last night and today,winning 8-2 last night and being slammed 16-4 today by the Cardinals.
In the victory,Tony Armas allowed just a 2 run homer to Rick Ankiel in 6 innings of work to move to 3-5 on the season,while offensively the story was a Pirate offense that was able to get a 3 run homer from Ronny Paulino(10),a solo shot from Adam LaRoche(21) and a 3 run double off the bat of Jack Wilson.
The other RBI belonged to Cesar Izturis.
The Pirate bullpen mopped up with 3 scoreless innings of work,with Damaso Marte,Shawn Chacon and Matt Capps contributing a inning of effort.
This game was the return of Mark Mulder from injury and the Buccos made it an unsuccessful one,as Mulder was chased after allowing 6 runs in 4 innings.
The Pirates then played a getaway day afternoon game today and if this game did not make a Pirate fan wince nothing will.
The 16-4 pounding was especially painful as 3 of the guys that were pummelled were "prospects" Bryan Bullington,John Van Benschoten and Dave Davidson.
Not to mention another dazzling outing by long-time non-favorite John Grabow.
Bullington got the start and allowed 5 runs in 3 innings,as he made his initial MLB start.
Van Benschoten then exceeded that glossy line by allowing the same amount of runs,but did it in an inning and a third.
Grabow then finished the inning by allowing 2 more runs.
Dave Davidson then allowed 4 runs in his first MLB inning.
If these guys are the future,things are not looking well in Steeltown.
Pirates RBI to Jose Bautista (2) and 1 each to Freddie Sanchez and Carlos Maldonado.
The Pirates return home for an important(at least to the Cubs) series vs the Cubs.
Pitching Matchup
Chicago: Rich Hill (8-7) at Pittsburgh: Tom Gorzelanny (13-7) 7:05
Bullpen Notes
In game 1 of the SAL Northern playoffs,the Hickory Crawdads were blasted at home by the 1st half winners,the West Virginia Power 12-2.
Mike Crotta was routed in the start for Hickory,but one of our favorites Alex Periard was the starting and winning pitcher for the Power.
Alex allowed just 2 runs and 7 hits over a 7 inning span.
Game 2 is in Charleston WV on Friday and a Crawdad loss means the end of their season.
The Frederick Keys pounded the Wilmington Blue Rocks 9-2 in Delaware in Game 1 of the Carolina Northern Finals.
This guarantees at least one more game for us to see before seasons end.
Game 2 is tonight in Frederick and a Keys victory paves the way to the Carolina League title series vs either Kinston or Salem.
LATE UPDATE
Chorye Spoone threw 8 and two thirds innings of no-hit baseball before Wilmington's Jose Duarte homered and ruined both the no-hitter and shutout.
Spoone retired the next batter to finish with a one hitter,a 3-1 victory and the Northern Division title for Frederick.
The Keys title opponent is still unknown,as Josh Rodriguez smacked a solo homer in the bottom of the 9th to give Kinston a 1-0 win over Salem and tie the series at 1 apiece.
Tomorrow's Game 3 in Kinston decides the Southern Champion.
Sung-Wei Tseng takes the ball for the K-Tribe,while the Avalanche have not announced their starter for the game.
Back tomorrow with either the Browns or Seahawks preview
Photo Credit
Tom Gannam-AP Photo
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