Nate McLouth saved runs with a tremendous sliding catch to end the Chicago 1st and after Pablo Ozuna threw wide of second on what should have been the second inning ending play,the Buccos put six runs on the board for a 6-0 lead.
The lead would not last the Chi-Sox turn at bat as the Pale Hose put up six runs of their own and would take the lead in the third on their way to a 13-8 win and a sweep of the three game set.
This was the Pirates fifth loss in six interleague games and facing Toronto ace Roy Halladay next-things are not exactly looking up.
Let's focus on the second as that is where most of the damage was done by the Pirates.
Adam LaRoche scored on the Ozuna bad throw and Nate
McLouth then cleared the bases for a 4-0 lead with a three run double.McLouth then scored on Freddy Sanchez's two run clout (4) as the final of the six unearned runs crossed the plate.
Sanchez would score McLouth again on a fourth inning single and McLouth would score his third and final run of the day in the final frame on Jason Bay's infield single.
In between was 13 Chicago runs,3 homers (2 by Jermain Dye) and 15 hits by the Southsiders.
Dye finished with 6 RBI and Orlando Cabrera added 4 runs off his bat for the afternoon.
Battlin' Bob's favorite Phil Dumatrait was generally trashed and destroyed in an outing that can be charitably called terrible.
The lefty lasted five innings,allowing 9 runs and 11 hits while striking out two in dropping to 3-4 on the season.
In the silver lining department-Dumatrait did not walk anyone.
Don't say I didn't say anything nice.
John Grabow (The Matches nickname could be back soon) continued his downward slide with an awful inning of work that saw him allow 4 runs on 3 hits and walked 2 as well.
Grabow has struggled in his last few appearances after a terrific April and May.
Sometimes,guys just settle to their level and that looks to be what is happening to Grabow now.
What an awful six games to watch.
The Pirates return home for the final 9 games of interleague play tonight starting with the Blue Jays.
Good luck.
Pitching Matchup
Toronto:Roy Halladay (8-6 3.09 ERA) at Pittsburgh:Zach Duke (4-4 4.24 ERA) 7:05
Bullpen Notes
For the few (or one) that cared about my fantasy teams,Gavin Flo
yd allowed seven runs,but only one was earned in the perfect scenario for the Pirates and me when they face a member of my teams!Lots of Pirate runs and no damage to the fantasy teams!
The Pirates peddled Jonah Bayliss from AAA Indianapolis to the Blue Jays for a player to be named later.
I really liked what I saw from Bayliss in Pittsburgh in 2006,but he has not seemed to be the same pitcher since and struggled mightily this year in the Hoosier state with an ERA over 6.
Bayliss was also the pitcher that blew the game that we were at in Allentown by allowing the winning runs to score.
I would not bet on getting a huge prospect out of this deal,but anything that you can get for a player that is not in your plans is a bonus.
The Tampa Bay Rays wasted no time bringing top overall pick Tim Beckham into the fold with a contract that included a 6.5 million sign bonus.
Beckham has been assigned to Princeton of the Appalachian League and will arrive there Sunday before beginning to play sometime next week.
In a funny note that would be funnier if I thought this had a chance of happening-the NHL is threatening the owners of the New York Rangers (Madison Square Garden Corp) with being thrown from the league or forcing them to sell the Rangers.
This goes back to last season when the NHL took control of all team web sites to put the league more in control of web content and putting all NHL marketing under one roof.
Bet on it being resolved,but it sure would be funny if it wasn't!
Don Cherry has plenty to say about the Hockey Night in Canada theme leaving CBC and about former Devil Doug Gilmour being bypassed for the Hall of Fame again.
Gilmour was easily a better choice than Glenn Anderson in our opinion.
Photo Credits
Dumatrait,Floyd:Nam Huh-AP Photo
Cherry:Unknown
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