The Pittsburgh Pirates erupted for seven runs in the top of the 9th inning and went on to beat the Houston Astros by the score of 9-3 on Monday night.  The Pirates went into the 9th inning trailing 3-2 but they were able to jump all over Astros closer Jose Valverde and knock him out of the game and take the lead and eventually win the game by six runs.

Jason Bay got things started with a solo home run in the 9th inning and then Adam LaRoche followed up with a two run shot to give the Pirates the lead.  Jack Wilson tacked on a two run single while Freddy Sanchez had a three run inside-the-park home run to score the final three runs of the game.

Sanchez led the team with four total rbi.  Bay and LaRoche both had two rbi while Wilson had one rbi to help out.  The offense was lucky to get going against Valverde and it was a huge win on the road for the team.

Tyler Yates who pitched the bottom of the eighth inning recorded the win and is now 4-3 on the year.  John Van Benschoten pitched the first five innings of the game and gave up six hits and and allowed the runs to score.  The Pirates pitching staff got lucky as the Astros left 30 runners on base and really should have scored more then three runs.  Oh well, the Pirates will take any breaks they can get!

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John Van Benschoten has been sent down to Triple-A Indianapolis by the Pittsburgh Pirates.  Van Benschoten has struggled up at the major league level and will now get some more work down in the minor leagues.

To take his spot on the roster, the Pirates called up Marino Salas.  Salas is a 27 year old career minor leaguer who will make making his major league debut.  Salas had a 0.77 era in 22 1/3 innings at Triple-A.

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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 were all over the New York Mets on Wednesday afternoon as they won 13-1.  A big seven run second inning was all the Pirates needed, but they kept on scoring to make it a old fashioned butt kicking.

Nate McLouth led the Pirates with three RBI as he went 3-4 on the day.  Xavier Nady went 3-3 with three RBI as well.  We can’t forget about Freddy Sanchez who also had three RBI.  Jason Bay, Ryan Doumit, Chris Gomez, and Tom Gorzelanny all had one RBI each.  Now that is what I call production up and down the lineup!

Starting pitcher Gorzelanny threw five innings of one hit ball to pick up the win.  The only reason he only pitched five innings was because he left the game after the fifth inning with some back pain.  Hopefully it isn’t to serious and he can make his next scheduled start.

John Van Benschoten pitched two innings in relief of Gorzelanny and he gave up one hit and one run.  Evan Meek pitched the final two innings in the game without allowing a run to cross the plate.

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The Pittsburgh Pirates lost a close game game in ten innings to the New York Mets on Tuesday night.  It was the Mets who came out on top in the game by the score of 5-4.  The Pirates had scored runs in the eighth and ninth innings to tie the game, but could never push across the go ahead run.

John Van Benschoten gave up the game winning single to David Wright in the tenth inning.  Van Benschoten took the loss which was his first of the season.  Starting pitcher Ian Snell only pitched 4.1 inning as he gave up five hits and four early runs.  The Pirates bullpen did a great job until Van Benschoten came in.

Nate McLouth got the Pirates on the scoreboard first when he took Johan Santana deep for his seventh home run of the season.  Jason Bay also took Santana deep for a solo home run in the fourth inning.  Freddy Sanchez and Adam LaRoche also had one RBI each in the game.

The Pirates are now 10-16 on the season.  Pirates Blog