Get out your brooms Pittsburgh…your Battlin’ Buccos have returned home and completed a sweep of their division rival Cincinnati Reds!
Friday, April 16: After a difficult road trip, the Pirates returned home for a 3-game series against the Reds, a team that has been in a bit of a slump after a quick start to open the season. The Bucs jumped on Reds’ start Mike Leake early, scoring three runs in the first two innings. After an error allowed Aki Iwamura to score, Garrett Jones hit a sacrifice fly to left, bringing Andrew McCutchen home. Iwamura singled home Bobby Crosby in the 2nd to give the Pirates an early 3-0 lead.
Zach Duke pitched a near gem, but ran into trouble in the 8th inning, With the bases loaded, Jay Bruce walked, bringing home the Reds’ first run of the game. After Duke was pulled, Ryan Hanigan then walked, scoring Brandon Phillips and cutting the Bucs’ lead to 3-2. The Reds then tied it up in the top of the 9th, ruining Duke’s chance of starting the season 3-0, as Orlando Cabrera blasted a sacrifice fly to left center, scoring Chris Dickerson.
The Bucs responded, as they have regularly in this early 2010 campaign, in the bottom of the 9th in dramatic fashion. Lastings Milledge was the hero on this night, singling to center and bringing home Andrew McCutchen in the walk-off victory, evening the Pirates record at 5-5.
Saturday, April 17: For the 2nd straight game, the Pirates took the maximum number of outs to defeat the Cincinnati Reds, walking off the field after another late-inning victory.
The Reds jumped in front early on Daniel McCutchen, scoring in the first inning on Jonny Gomes’ sacrifice fly. The Pirates responded in the bottom of the first with a pair of RBI doubles by Lastings Milledge and Delwyn Young, and earned a 3-1 lead in the 2nd on Ronny Cedeno’s solo homer. After tying things up in the 3rd, Brandon Phillips doubled in the 5th, scoring Joey Votto and giving the Reds the lead, 4-3.
With the score still 4-3 in the bottom of the 9th and the bases loaded, Lastings Milledge drew a two-out walk, bringing home Ryan Church and tying the game at 4. Then Garrett Jones, after getting down 0-2 in the count, worked his way back to 3-2 before belting a blast to deep right center, giving the Pirates a 5-4 win, guaranteeing the club their second straight home-series victory.
Sunday, April 18: Jason Jaramillo took his turn as the hitting star of the day for the Pirates, going 2-3, including a huge 3-run double in the 4th, leading the Buccos to a 5-3 victory over the Reds.
Bucco starter Paul Maholm pitched a terrific game, allowing just 2 runs on 4 hits through 6.2 innings, lowering his season ERA to 4.58. The Pirates did all of their scoring in 4th, which, in addition to Jaramillo’s double, also included a Ryan Church RBI single as well as Bobby Crosby getting hit by a pitch with the bases full, driving home Lastings Milledge. Octavio Dotel, despite giving up a 9th inning solo homerun from Jay Bruce, his second of the game, still tallied his 3rd save of the season.
After a difficult road trip, the Pirates returned home and could not have asked for a more satisfying series against the Cincinnati Reds. Of course, any baseball fan knows how significant division series are to a team’s success, and the Bucs got off to a fabulous start this season, sweeping the Reds and starting the year with a 3-0 record in the N.L. Central.
Probably the biggest story of the series was the pitching from both the starters and the bullpen. After getting obliterated in Arizona and San Francisco, the Pirates allowed just 10 runs in the 3-game set against the Reds, a drastic improvement over 27 and 20 they allowed in their previous two series. Zach Duke (Friday) and Paul Maholm (Sunday) pitched brilliantly, while Daniel McCutchen managed the game well on Saturday and kept the Pirates above water, giving the Buccos the chance they needed at the end to win the game. Timely hitting and patient at-bats from the entire lineup set the stage for the dramatics that have become a theme of regularity at PNC Park in this early 2010 season.
The Pirates’ next challenge are the hated (literally, after last year, hated) Milwaukee Brewers. While off to a bit of a slow start, the Brewers’ bats have seemed to reignite as they make their way to Pittsburgh for a 3 game set, Tuesday-Thursday. The Pirates find themselves at 7-5, in second place in the N.L. Central, with another HUGE division series ahead of them.
Zane and I were at PNC Park on Saturday and Sunday. Please check out our Fans From The Stands pre-game and post-game shows:
Saturday, April 17 Pregame
Saturday, April 18 Postgame
Sunday, April 18 Pregame
Sunday, April 18 Postgame
Current Record: 7-5
And…As Always…Let’s Go Bucs!!!
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