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.

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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.

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The story of the night was Yoslan Herrera, pitching 6 innings of shutout baseball. Although his fastball never clocked above 90mph he was able to keep the ball down, change speeds and throw his breaking ball for strikes. Yoslan showed his ability to pitch, rather than throw by effectively using a fastball and curve. His fastball, having a nice late sinking action, induced a good number of groundouts, while he was throwing an “11-5” curveball for strikes early in the count and out of the zone as an out pitch.

The most productive outfield in baseball continued to impress, Jason Bay, Xavier Nady, and Nate McLouth all homered , Bay and Nady collected theirs together when they went back to back in the fourth for an early 4 run lead. Nate McLouth added his 2-run homer in the bottom of the eighth to cap the scoring at 9. Doug Mientkiewicz, Freddy Sanchez, and Ryan Doumit also chipped in 2 hits apiece with Doumit doubling in a run in the first. Overall it was a very consistent offensive output.

The Bullpen did a great job of closing out Yoslan Herrera’s first major league win, Denny Bautista came in in the seventh to strike out the side, Sean Burnett closed out the game with a 1-2-3 ninth striking out 2. Overall Bautista and Burnett combined for 3 innings, giving up 1 run on 2 hits and striking out 5 without walking a batter.

Streaks: Xavier Nady continued his hot hitting bringing his hit streak to 13 games, Freddy Sanchez pushed his multi-hit streak to 4 games, while the offense scored 8 or more runs for the fourth straight game as well.

Once again the Pittsburgh Pirates defeated the Houston Astros.  This time it was by the score of 8-2 on Tuesday evening as the Pirates went up 2-0 in the three game series.  The Pirates will now be going for the sweep on Wednesday.

Freddy Sanchez had a solo home run in the first inning to get the Pirates on the scoreboard.  Little man Nate McLouth then added a solo shot in the third inning and then Ryan Doumit went deep for a two run shot in the seven inning as the Pirates extended their lead.  Doumit finished the game with three rbi while Sanchez had two rbi.  Jason Bay and McLouth both contributed with one bri each.

Paul Maholm pitched a very good game as he went eight inning to pick up the win and improve his record to 7-6.  Maholm allowed five hits but only one run through his eight innings of action.  Sean Burnett tossed the ninth inning and gave up one hit and one run but it really didn’t matter as they Pirates had a big lead.

So how do you like the Pirates chances at a sweep on Wednesday?  Leave us a comment and let us know!

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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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Talk about a big time blow out loss for the Pittsburgh Pirates as they were beat Tuesday evening 16-5 by the Chicago White Sox.  All four Pirates pitchers in the game gave up atleast one run while three of them gave up aleast three or more runs!  Four home runs by the White Sox sure didn’t help either.

Starting pitcher Ian Snell dropped to 3-7 on the season as he took the loss for the Pirates.  Snell pitched four innings and gave up nine hits, seven runs, and walked six batters.  Now that is a terrible job by the starting pitcher!

Franquelis Osoria came in and pitched two innings while giving up four hits and three runs including a home run.  Marino Salas had a terrible outing after Osoria left the game as he only recorded two outs and gave up two home runs and five runs.  Sean Burnett wanted his turn and got it as he pitched 1 2/3 innings giving up one run.  Terrible outing by all four Pirates pitchers.

Jason Michaels led the Pirates at the plate with two rbi.  Both runs scored in the second inning when he had a two run double.  Jose Bautista hit a solo home run to account for his rbi while Nate McLouth and Doug Mientkiewicz also had one rbi each in the game.

I wouldn’t expect another blow out that bad on Wednesday when the two teams face off again.  Atleast I hope it is a little bit closer lol.

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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 held to only three hits and were blown out by the Cincinnati Reds on Wednesday night by the score of 9-1.  The Pirates were really never in the game as the dropped to 24-28 on the season.

The Pirates one run in the game came in the second inning on a infield single by Franquelis Osoria.  The single scored Adam LaRoche.  Other then that the Pirates only had two hits in the game as the really sucked it up at the plate.  They need to do a better job then that, especially against the Reds pitchers.

Tom Gorzelanny got rocked and didn’t even make it out of the first inning.  He gave up four hits and six runs while only record two outs in the inning.  Terrible job by Gorzelanny.  The next three relief pitcher did a bad job as well as Osoria, Sean Burnett, and Marino Salas all gave up one run.

The Pirates will battle the Reds one more time as they play on Thursday.

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The Pittsburgh Pirates allowed five runs in the final three innings as they lost 7-2 to the Milwaukee Brewers.  It would have been an entirely different game had those runs not crossed the plate in the last three innings, but the Pirates simply didn’t get the job done.

Paul Maholm pitched 6 1/3 innings to take the loss for the Pirates and is now 2-5 on the season with a 5.03 era.  Maholm gave up nine hits and four runs in the game.  Sean Burnett came in after Maholm and gave up two runs on three hits.  Marino Salas then gave up a solo home run in the ninth inning.

Jason Bay did hit a two run home run in the ninth inning but it clearly wasn’t enough as the Brewers had a seven run lead.  Other then that, the Pirates simply stunk it up all night long.

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The Pittsburgh Pirates had no answer for Todd Wellemeyer and three Cardinals relievers as they were only able to score one run against the Cardinals on Wenesday night.  The Pirates went onto lose the game 5-1 as they didn’t score until the eighth inning in the game when it was just a little too late.

Paul Maholm took the loss for the Pirates after throwing six inning and giving up eleven hits and four runs.  Sean Burnett pitched a scoreless inning of relief after Maholm, but then Marino Salas gave up a run on three hits in one inning of action.

The lone Pirates run came in the eighth inning when Nate McLouth singled to left field to score Jose Bautista.

The Pirates still have a shot at winning the series, they will have to beat the Cardinals on Thursday however to do so.

Pirates Homeplate is currently seeking a Pirates fan that would like to write game recaps for the games.  Recaps can be done right after the game is over or the next morning.  If you are interested be us the contact us link at the top of the site to email us.  Pirates Blog