It took 10 innings and a few errors by St. Louis, but Pittsburgh pulled out a 4-3 victory Sunday at PNC Park to avoid a three-game sweep.
With the win, the Pirates (52-47) are back in a first-place tie with the Cardinals (53-48) and Brewers (54-49). The Bucs (.525) are a percentage point above Milwaukee (.524) and have an identical percentage-points mark with St. Louis (.525).
Pittsburgh is most likely in Atlanta as of this writing. They began a four-game set with the Braves Monday at Turner Field. The game will be broadcast on ESPN. It's been awhile since the Bucs have been on National TV.
After the Cardinals failed to get any runs off winning pitcher Joe Beimel (1-1), Xavier Paul used his speed for an infield single with one out. Paul hit a grounder that Albert Pujols fielded up the first-base line, but Paul beat pitcher Jason Motte (3-2) to the bag.
Paul took off for second with Chase d'Arnaud batting, but catcher Gerald Laird's throw was off the mark and Paul made it to third. The Cardinals made three errors in the game.
D'Arnaud's fly ball to center scored Paul from third and the Pirates "raised the jolly roger." I didn't listen to the radio broadcast, but I'm sure Greg Brown said it.
Pittsburgh needed this win and it played like it. They trailed 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2 and rallied each time. It only managed seven hits, but took advantage of some mistakes by the Cardinals.
Trailing 1-0 in the third, d'Arnaud doubled in Eric Fryer, who singled and reached third on a stolen base and an error by Ryan Theriot on the catch.
Down 2-1 in the fifth, Ronny Cedeno doubled, moved to third on Fryer's ground out and scored on starting pitcher Charlie Morton's sacrifice fly.
Morton pitched 5.1 innings and allowed three runs on six hits. He had three strike outs and five walks. He also allowed a home run. Pittsburgh gave up at least one ball in each game of the series. It has not hit one out since last Saturday against Houston.
Losing 3-2 in the seventh, Cedeno hit his third double and moved to third on Fryer's bunt base-hit. Steve Pearce hit into a double play, however it allowed Cedeno to score.
Cedeno and Fryer had four of the seven hits for the Bucs.
The Bucs did a great job on playing small ball and using their speed, but a power bat is needed. Andrew McCutchen shouldn't be leading this team in homers.
I don't have any problem giving up prospects to win now. I say it will take between 85-90 to win this thing. Maybe Clint Hurdle should put up a naked poster of Bob Nutting in the clubhouse and promise to put the sections back on after every win. If you've seen "Major League" you know what I'm talking about.
I meant to post this on the most current blog post but accidentally posted it on the other one:
ReplyDeleteA kipper disciple (FightingScot82 or something like that)whined on Smizblog that Anti's would still complain that the payroll was still to low if it was raised to $75 because it would still be $15 million less than the Reds and Brewers.
Would you guys complain as long as the money was spent on good trade acquisitions and free agents? I know I wouldn't considering that would be almost doubling the current payroll.
Some of those idiot pros on there complain about how Antis would react in their minds to made up scenarios. They just need someone to be against even if they make up the confrontation. Dudes need to get a life.
I think the most likely way the payroll will increase will be maintaining homegrown players that perform, not reaching outside the organization.
ReplyDeleteBasically, I'll parrot what I've been saying for a while; if you're waiting for the Pirates to sign a free agent that automatically becomes the team's best player, you'll be waiting for a long time. But that's more or less the formula for teams in markets similar to Pittsburgh.
Therefore, if we're ever going to see payroll go up, it will most likely start with some combination of re-signing McCutchen, Alvarez, and Walker. Those three should be the top priorities.
I'd love to think about this more, but I have to get back to work!