The Pittsburgh Pirates and Los Angeles Dodgers played 13 innings on Thursday afternoon and the Pirates came out on the losing end by the score of 4-3. They Pirates just couldn’t get that big hit late in the game to score the winning run and dropped to 64-89 on the season.

T.J. Beam allowed a rbi single in the top of the 13th to James Loney which proved to be the game winning hit for the Dodgers. Craig Hansen ended up with loss as he was responsible for the winning run that was on base. Paul Maholm was the starting pitcher and he only gave up three hits but did allow three runs to score in seven innings of action. It was an up and down game for Maholm as he shouldn’t have allowed three runs to score on only three hits.

Nate McLouth had the first rbi for the Pirates when he hit a rbi sac fly that scored Nyjer Morgan in the first inning. Andy LaRoche then added a rbi single in the sixth inning which was followed by a rbi single in the seventh inning from Luis Cruz.

It was a tough loss for the Pirates but they don’t have much time to think about it as the Houston Astros will be in down for a weekend series starting Friday night.

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The Pittsburgh Pirates were up on the Cincinnati Reds heading into the eighth inning but the Reds scored three times in the bottom of the inning and went on to win 8-6. The Pirates were going for the three game sweep against the Reds, but I’ll take two out of three games that is for sure.

The losing pitcher of the game was Craig Hansen who fell to 0-3 on the year. Hansen was charged with all three runs that the Reds scored in the bottom of the eighth inning. Starting pitcher Tom Gorzelanny gave up seven hits and three runs in just 3 2/3 innings to get the no decision. Jason Davis and Jesse Chavez both gave up one run in relief as well.

Chris Gomez and Steve Pearce finished the game with two rbi each. Nate McLouth also added a solo home run for the Pirates. Andy LaRoche also added a rbi in the first inning. It was a good showing for the Pirates offense on the day as they put up six runs.

It’s just too bad that the bullpen wasn’t able to hold the lead. They will try again on Friday when the Pirates begin a series with the San Francisco Giants.

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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.

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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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