After a horrible ending to their home stand against the San Diego Padres, the Pirates embarked on a very difficult road trip, first finding themselves in a 3 game series against the Colorado Rockies.
Tuesday, July 27: The Pirates got a solid start from Zach Duke, and the bullpen once again put together solid innings of relief, as the Buccos outlasted the Rockies in game one of their series, 4-2.
The Pirates started things early in the first inning, as Jose Tabata singled home Andrew McCutchen for the game’s first run. Tabata later scored on a wild pitch, giving the Pirates. After the Rockies battled back in the 5th inning with a pair of homeruns, Neil Walker hit a round-tripper of his own in the 8th, giving the Pirates a 4-2 lead, which would turn out to be the final score.
Wednesday, July 28: The Pirates handed the Rockies their 8th straight loss on Wednesday, as the bats still remained alive while the pitching was once again solid for the 2nd consecutive night, all contributing to a 6-2 win for our battlin’ Buccos.
Garrett Jones was on fire on Wednesday, going 4-4 with 2 homeruns and 3 RBI. Andrew McCutchen had 3 hits, while 4 other Pirates also added a hit each. This also proved to be one of the best performances of the season by the Pirates pitchers, as a staff. Ross Ohlendorf was struck in the head in the first inning, and was pulled from the game. The bullpen was stretched to its limits on this night, but did a superb job, giving up just 1 run throughout the entire game. Sean Gallagher notched the win for the Buccos, who set themselves up for the sweep opportunity on Thursday afternoon.
Thursday, July 29: Ubaldo Jimenez won his 16th game of the season, keeping the Pirates’ bats in check on Thursday afternoon, as the Rockies’ offense finally woke up, hammering the Pirates and avoiding the sweep with a final score of 9-3.
Paul Maholm gave up 8 runs on 11 hits and walked 3 through 5.1 innings, which was more than enough for Jimenez to handle the Pirates. The Rockies’ starter gave up just one run on 4 hits through 7 innings, lowering his ERA to 2.67. On a bright side for the Pirates, Neil Walker blasted a homerun and added 2 RBI to his season total, while Jose Tabata had another multi-hit game.
So while the Pirates’ final came in Colorado could have been better, they should still be relatively pleased with their series performance against the Rockies. This should give them some momentum as they head into a divisional series against the St. Louis Cardinals, who have dominated the Buccos at Busch Stadium.
Current Record: 36-65
And…As Always…Let’s Go Bucs!
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