Zach Duke’s continues to struggle on the pitching mound as he gave up two runs on seven hits and the Pirates lost to the Cubs 2-0. Duke struckout six batters while walking two but in the end he still took the loss because there was not any run support for him. One of these games he will get that fifth win of the season I hope.

In the seventh inning, Duke allowed a run on groundout to third base. As I watched the game, I thought that Andy LaRoche could have went home with the ball but it would have been a bang-bang play and he elected to just get the out at first. The next pitch seen the Cubs put down a suicide squeeze bunt that worked. The Pirates were just a few feet away from catching the ball and would have turned a double play to get out of the inning but instead they allowed the run to score.

The offense had five hits in the game but were never able to get a hit with runners in scoring position. They struckout 13 times and left 16 runners on base.

Pirates Blog

Wow, this sure isn’t fun blogging about the Pirates the way they have been playing lately. The Pirates were beaten badly by the Chicago Cubs on Monday night by the score of 12-3 as the Cubs took the first game of a three game series.

The Cubs jumped all over Pirates starting pitcher Jeff Karstens as he only lasted three innings. Karstens was charged with six hits and five runs including one home run. The home run was a three run shot by Aramis Ramirez in the third inning. The Pirates bullpen wasn’t any better however as Jason Davis gave up five hits and five runs in two innings. Sean Burnett also gave up four hits and one run.

At the plate for the Pirates they only scored three runs while striking out eight times. Adam LaRoche had a two run home run off of Ted Lilly and Brandon Moss had a solo home run off Lilly. That was all the offense for the Pirates.

Pirates Baseball Blog

Starting pitcher Jason Davis was rocked on Wednesday night as the St. Louis Cardinals put a butt kicking on the Pirates. Davis didn’t last long in the game as he gave up nine hits and eight runs in only 3 2/3 innings. The Pirates were going for the short two game sweep but the Cardinals sure had other ideas.

Besides Davis giving up eight runs, Craig Hansen was charged with three hits and three runs over two innigs of action. Romulo Sanchez was the only Pirates pitcher to throw that did not allow a run to score.

At the plate, it was only two runs for the Pirates offense and they both came in the third inning. Ryan Doumit homered as Nyjer Morgan scored on the long blast. It was Doumit’s 13th home run of the season.

The Pirates will now be off on Thursday and then start up a series with the Milwaukee Brewers on Friday.

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The Pittsburgh Pirates ended the New York Mets six game winning streak on Monday afternoon with a 5-2 victory. With the win, the Pirates also ended their four game losing streak.

Steve Pearce broke a 2-2 tie in the eighth inning when he singled in the go-ahead run to put the Pirates up 3-2. Jack Wilson then added a two run double to make the score 5-2 in the eighth. Adam LaRoche hit his 16th homerun of the season when he went deep in the sixth inning.

Sean Burnett recorded one out and picked up the victory to improve to 1-1. John Grabow notched his fourth save of the season when he finished off the Mets in the ninth. Pirates starting pitcher, Paul Maholm gave up five hits and two runs over seven inning of action. Maholm got a no decision for his efforts.

Pirates Baseball Blog

Pirates starting pitcher Ian Snell fell to a dissappointing 4-10 on the year as the Pirates lost to the Cincinnati Reds on Thursday night by the score of 3-1. The Reds used six dfferent pitchers as they shut down the Pirates offense. The Pirates could only score one run in the game and that came in the first inning on a rbi single by Andy LaRoche.

Snell tossed six innings and gave up six hits and two runs. Five walks really hurt Snell and if he wouldn’t have walked so many batters probably would have stayed in the game longer. No matter what though, it is hard to win a game when your offense only scores one run in the game.

The Pirates can’t give up even though they are out of the playoff race like in most years. They just have to keep on going out there and play ard and the fans need to stay behind the players. Voice your opinion to the management and not the players.

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