Pirates offense waking up in 7-2 win

I may not like interleague play,but the Pittsburgh Pirates are coming around on the topic as the Bucolics won their third game in a row in a 7-2 win over the Minnesota Twins at PNC Park.
Josh Harrison's fly ball deflected off Josh Willingham and over the wall (2) in the first inning for a lead that would never be surrendered.
Andrew McCutchen also homered (12) in the seventh inning for insurance runs in the victory.
Kevin Correia moved to 3-6 with the win with five and a third scoreless innings.
The series continues tonight with a battle of lefties with Eric Bedard for Pittsburgh against the Twins Francisco Liriano..

Pirate Hooks

1) The Josh Harrison homer was a lucky break,but these things happen.It looked to me that Josh Willingham mistimed his jump and the ball lightly bounced off him and over.

2) It was nice to see Kevin Correia pitch well and allow just four hits over his evening.
Anytime that the Pirates can get mileage from Correia,it might be their game to win...

3) Clint Barmes continued his run with the stick as the shortstop whacked out three hits,including an RBI double.
Barmes reached a .200 batting average for the first time this season at the end of the game...

4) The Pirates are now four games over .500 (35-31) and reside in second place,two and a half games behind the Reds.
Can this be sustained?
A tentative maybe,when you consider the division that Pittsburgh is in,I would not rule it out,but I still think a bat is a must have to make a serious run at the title.

5) The Pirates are looking at two decisions soon.
The first is keeping Brad Lincoln in the rotation for his next start.
Lincoln has been ripped in recent outing and might be replaced by the returning Jeff Karstens,who pitched well in a long rehab start at AA Altoona last night.
The Post-Gazette offers veteran Rick Vandenhurk from AAA Indianapolis as another possibility.

6) Another decision is on the status of Jordy Mercer,who was added from Indianapolis,yet with the warming of the bat of Clint Barmes,has not batted in ten days.
I hate seeing young players sit the bench,when they could play at the lower levels.
Generally,I do not think it is good for a players development either physically or mentally....

Photo Credit:AP Photo-Keith Srakocic