The Pittsburgh Pirates and Houston Astros had to sit through a 27 minute rain delay on Tuesday night but that didn’t bother the Pirates who came from behind to beat the Astros 4-3.  The Pirates scored three runs in the bottom of the 8th inning to shock the Astros and steal a victory from the divisional foes.

Adam LaRoche went 3-4 and had a solo home run in the 8th inning to get the Pirates comeback started.  Little man Nate McLouth then had a two run single that scored Jose Bautista and Luis Rivas for the tying and go ahead runs.  McLouth also had a solo home run in the fifth inning as he finished the game with three rbi.

John Grabow improved to 5-2 as he pitched two innings to pick up the win.  Damaso Marte pitched the ninth inning and picked up his third save of the season.  Starting pitcher Ian Snell only pitched 3 2/3 innings and gave up four hits and one run.  He was taken out of the game after sitting through the rain delay.  T.J. Beam gave up two quick runs after he came in for Snell when the game resumed.

Good come from behind win for the Pirates who are now 42-47 on the season.  Pirates Blog

The Pittsburgh Pirates won a wild game on the road in Cincinnati as they beat the Reds 6-5 on Tuesday evening.  The Pirates and Reds played 11 innings and it came down to the final out before anyone could actually breath.  It was a back and forth game the entire game and the Pirates were lucky to come out on top if you ask me.

Jack Wilson and Nate McLouth delived rbi’s in the top of the 11th inning for the Pirates.  Wilson had a rbi triple while McLouth had a rbi single for what would be the game winning run.  Adam LaRoche, Doug Mientkiewicz, Jason Michaels, and Jose Bautista all had one rbi in the game to go along with Wilson’s and McLouth’s rbi’s.  Offense came through when they needed to and they were the mvp of this game.

Pirates starting pitcher Zach Duke tossed five innings and gave up six hits and one run to get the no decision.  Duke pitched pretty good but only lasted five innings.  Denny Bautista, John Grabow, and Tyler Yates all pitched in relief before Damaso Marte gave up two runs in the eighth inning.  Matt Capps gave up one run even though he picked up the win in the game to improve his record to 2-3.  Romulo Sanchez got his first save of the season as he pitched the bottom of the 11th inning.  Sanchez didn’t make it easy on himself however as he did give up one run in the inning.

In the end it was the Pirates coming out on top which is always good to see.  Now can they win the rubber match on Wednesday?  Pirates Blog

The Pittsburgh Pirates were beat by the Chicago White Sox 13-8 on Thursday afternoon.  With the six run loss, the Pirates were swept in the three game series with the White Sox.  That was definaly not the way the Pirates had hoped for things to go in Chicago.  I think the Pirates had better just stay away from Chicago for the rest of the year as they just can’t beat the White Sox or the Cubs it seems.

Phil Dumatrait was rocked for eleven hits and nine runs in only five innings of action as he put the Pirates in a deep hole right away in the game.  Dumatrait is now 3-4 on the season after taking the loss.  Anytime your starting pitcher gives up nine runs that early in the game, it takes all the momentum out of the rest of the players.  Just a bad deal all around.

John Grabow did about just as nice of a job as Dumatrait did as he gave up three hits and four runs in only one inning of action.  Finally the scoring stopped for the White Sox as Damaso Marte and Sean Burnett pitched scoreless innings in the seventh and eighth innings.

Freddy Sanchez had a two run home run and three rbi to lead the Pirates at the plate.  Lead off man Nate McLouth also had three rbi in the game as he had a bases clearing triple in the second inning.  Jason Bay had a rbi infield single in the ninth inning which was the final run for the Pirates in the game.

So there you have it, just like we had blogged about after last nights game.  We figured the Pirates would lose and that is exactly what happened.

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The Pittsburgh Pirates were able to take two out of three games against the Washington Nationals as they won 7-5 on Thursday afternoon.  The Pirates were able to put a lot of pressure on the Nationals early in the game and knocked Nationals starting pitcher Jason Bergmann out after just a little over four innings pitched.

Ryan Doumit hit his ninth home run of the season in the first inning to give the Pirates a 2-0 lead.  Doumit ended up leading the Pirates at the plate with three rbi.  After Doumit’s three rbi, four different Pirates players had one rbi in the game.  Nate McLouth, Jason Bay, Tom Gorzelanny, and Jason Michaels all had one rbi in the game.

Gorzelanny ended up getting the victory (his fifth) after throwing 5 2/3 innings.  Gorzelanny gave up six hits and thre runs while striking out six batters and walking three.  Not too bad of an outing, but it would have been nice to see him throw longer in the game and cut down on the walks.

One cause of concern would be the Pirates Bullpen as they gave up five hits and two runs.  Sean Burnett pitched 1/3 of an inning and allowed two hits and one run.  Franquelis Osoria then pitched 1 2/3 innings as he gave up another run.  Tyler Yates and Damaso Marte were finally able to pitch without giving up a run.

The Pirates will now travel down to Baltimore to take on the Orioles in a three game weekend series that begins on Friday.  Orioles Blog

The Pittsburgh Pirates were able to come away with a 3-1 victory over the Washington Nationals on Wednesday night.  The Pirates scored single runs in the first, fifth, and seventh innings of the games and then held off the Nationals late in the game.

Ian Snell picked up his third win of the season and is now 3-6.  Snell threw six innings while giving up six hits and one run.  Snell struckout six batters and walked three in his six innings of action.  Damaso Marte, Tyler Yates, and Matt Capps all threw one inning of scoreless relief after Snell left the game.  Capps earned his 16th save of the season in the game.

Jason Bay got the scoring started for the Pirates in the first inning when he doubled and scored Nate McLouth.  Onto the fifth inning where Ryan Doumit hit a solo home run for the Pirates second run.  In the seventh inning it was Xavier Nady who singled to right field to score Freddy Sanchez.

Good win for the Pirates who will go for the series win on Thursday against the Nationals.  What do you think Pirates fans?  Do they get the series win?

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The Pittsburgh Pirates got in the head of Arizona Diamondbacks starting pitcher Randy Johnson and the Pirates went on to defeat the Diamondbacks by the score of 5-3.  Doug Mientkiewicz slowly got into the batters box very slowly against Johnson and that really upset the ”Big Unit”.  Johnson started walking towards home plate as both benches emptied but nothing came of the altercation except Johnson being upset.

With the Big Unit upset, the Pirates took full advantage of his wildness on the mound.  Taking three walks five walks and error by Johnson they were able to score some runs and win for the second game in a row.

Luis Rivas had two rbi for the Pirates while Jack Wilson, Xavier Nady, and Jose Bautista all had one rbi in the game.  Good job by the offense putting up five runs in the game.

On the mound it was Zach Duke throwing six inning and picking up the win as he improved to 4-4 on the season.  Duke only allowed five hits and two runs in the game as he had a pretty good outing against a good Diamondbacks offense.

Damaso Marte gave up one run in relief but then Tyler Yates and Matt Capps finished things up.  Capps recorded his 15th save of the season as well.

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The Pittsburgh Pirates got a good pitching performance by Zach Duke as they beat the Houston Astros 5-2 on Wednesday night.  With the win the Pirates tied the series at 1-1 with the rubber match being Thursday night.

Duke tossed 7 2/3 innings while giving up seven hits and two runs.  Ty Wigginton took him deep for a solo home run in the first and then Carlos Lee had a rbi single in the sixth inning.  Duke will take that kind of quality start every time he takes the mound.  With the win he is now 2-5 on the season.

Damaso Marte recorded the last out in the eighth inning after Duke left the game and then the closer Matt Capps came in to get his 12th save of the season.

Raul Chavez had a two run single in the fourth inning and then a sacrafice fly in the eighth inning to lead the Pirates with three rbi in the game.  Adam LaRoche had a rbi single in the fourth inning while Nate McLouth had a rbi single in the fifth inning.

The Pirates will try to win the series as they battle the Astros on Thursday night.

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The Pittsburgh Pirates and Atlanta Braves split a day double header on Monday as the Pirats won the first game 5-0 and then lost the second game 8-1.  The Pirates were outhit in both games, the only difference was starting pitching in the first game was good unlike in the second game.

Zach Duke tossed six innings of five hit ball in the first game to pick up the win.  With the victory Duke is now 2-2 on the season.  Damaso Marte pitched two innings while Sean Burnett pitched one inning to complete the shutout of the Braves.

Freddy Sanchez had a bases loaded double in the fifth inning that got he Pirates on the board and provided all the runs they would end up needed to win.  Adam LaRoche connected on a two run home run in the eighth inning to provide two insurance runs for the Pirates.

Game two was a totally different story for the Pirates however.  They were limited to only five hits once again, but none of the hits were with runners in scoring position etc so they only put one run up on the board.

The only run for the Pirates came in the first inning when Ryan Doumit was safe at first on a error and Doug Mientkiewicz scored.

John Van Benschoten took the loss for the Pirates as he got rocked for nine hits and seven runs in only four innings of action.  Franquelis Osoria pitched the next four innings and gave up one run.

After the double header, the Pirates are now 18-20 on the season.

The Pittsburgh Pirates scored three runs on Wednesday night and that was enough to beat the San Francisco Giants and Barry Zito.

Phil Dumatrait earned the victory over the Giants and improved to 1-1 on the season.  Dumatrait pitched  5 2/3 innings while giving up three hits and no runs.  Tyler Yates, Damaso Marte, and Matt Capps all pitched in relief of Dumatrait.  Capps was the only reliever to give up runs as he gave up one earned run on three hits.  Capps still picked up his seventh save of the season however.

Xavier Nady had two RBI for the Pirates as he had a two run home run and grounded into a double play to score another run.  Nady was all the offense had and for that matter all the needed against the Giants.

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The Pittsburgh Pirates scored three runs in the sixth inning and went onto beat the Florida Marlins by the score of 3-2.   With the win, the Pirates improved their record to 3-2 on the season.

Pat Maholm was the winning pitcher for the Pirates as he pitched six inning of four hit ball and only allowed one earned run.  Maholm struck out six batters and only walked one batter.

Tyler Yates, Damaso Marte, John Grabow, and Matt Capps all pitched in relief for the Pirates.  Yates was the only relief pitcher to allow a earne run as he allowed one run in the seventh inning.

Xavier Nady led the Pirates with two RBI while Ryan Doumit had one RBI for the Pirates.  Nate McLouth 19 game hitting streak came to a end in the game as well.

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