Padres Earn Series Win in Extras

It was a nice comeback and it was good to see some fight in the fellas. The Pirates scored three in the 8th and one in the 9th to send the game to extra innings. But Jeff Karstens was torched for five runs in the extra frame as San Diego took 3 of 4.

Daniel McCutchen (6 IP, 8 hits, three runs, zero whiffs) was on the hook for the loss. Until Luke Gregerson gave up three runs in the 8th and Heath Bell uncharacteristically blew a 9th inning save. That took away a win from rookie Wade LeBlanc (5 IP, 5 hits, one run, five strike outs).

It was a 3-2 game coming into the 8th. But Chase Headley (solo) and Nick Hundley (two run) hit homers off of Jesse Chavez to push the lead to four runs. But Andrew McCutchen’s two run double off of Gregerson keyed the 8th inning rally. The Pirates loaded the bases with no one out in the 9th off of Bell, but managed just the tying run.

Headley’s RBI double in the 11th opened the scoring in that frame and was his fifth hit of the game. That outburst made a winner of Sean Gallagher.

The Good

The comeback.

Garrett Jones hit his 20th homer.

The Bad

Karstens got hit hard.

Another loss.

Only getting one run off of Heath Bell in the 9th.

The Rest

That was the 9th time this year that Headley has had three or more hits. It was his first three double game in his career. Combined Andy LaRoche and Brandon Moss only have six games with three or more hits.

Phil Dumatrait tossed a scoreless inning of relief. He has been scored on in six of his 11 appearances.

Adrian Gonzalez drove in two runs to reach 92 RBI. He is trying to become the first Padre ever to knock in 100 runs in three straight seasons. Only one other Padre – Phil Nevin – recorded three different 100 RBI seasons.

Ohlendorf’s Mistakes Prove Costly

Frustrated tonight. Missed the Notre Dame game due to travel. Caught the bulk of it on the radio. I’m of the opinion that a Lou Holtz defense wouldn’t have buckled with the game on the line. Listened to OSU/USC and now home in time to watch the finish.

And, of course, checking on my beloved, pathetic Buccos. Poor Ross Ohlendorf. He gave up only four hits in 6-1/3. Two of them were dingers. Both came with a man on. Four runs against. And he got just two runs of support. So, he took the loss.

Brian Moehler gave up both Pirate runs over six innings. But, he didn’t get the decision. Jeff Fulchino tossed a scoreless seventh and was the winner since Miguel Tejada’s tie-breaking dinger came in the home half of the 7th (Carlos Lee hit the other homer). Jose Valverde closed things out.

The Good

Ohlendorf – here’s hoping he keeps it up next year, too.

Ronny Cedeno and Lastings Milledge each had two hits.

The Bad

The losing. The lack of an offense.

Notre Dame gagging.

The Rest

Fulchino has two wins and has allowed no runs in 5-1/3 innings over four appearances against Pittsburgh in 2009.

Over his last 15 starts, Ohlendorf is just 5-5 despite an ERA around 3.50. He has allowed more than three earned runs in a start just twice since July.

Lee needs six more RBI to reach 100 for the fifth straight year.

And now the Buckeyes have lost…

‘Wild’ at Hart; Zambrano and Cubs Win Again

Monday: Bucs are two hit

Tuesday: Cubs collect 8 straight hits to start the game

Wednesday: Bucs starter Kevin Hart walks six in five innings

Anyway you slice it/describe it, the end result is another loss.

Taking advantage of the free passes, Chicago plated a single run in each of the first three innings. Then they two off of each of two Pirate relievers later in the game to finish the deal.

The benefactor was Carlos Zambrano who won for the first time in over a month. He whiffed 8 and allowed just two runs in six innings. The Pirates received a three run homer from Ronny Cedeno in the 8th, but as Pat Benatar once sung, “It’s a little too little, it’s a little too late.”

Hart gave up four runs on six hits and those six walks in five innings. Micah Hoffpauir and Koyie Hill each drove in a pair for the Wriglies.

The Good

We are getting closer to Ross Ohlendorf’s turn in the rotation

The Bad

Hah!

The Rest

It has been two years since the Pirates have beaten Zambrano. He is now 11-6 in his career against Pittsburgh and 7-1 at PNC.

Hoffpauir came into the game just 3-18 against the Pirates this year. Of course he had two hits and scored three times.

Pirates have lost 11 of 12.

 

’79 Champs Witness Bucs Rise to 5th Place

I was supposed to be in the audience tonight. But a business trip looms tomorrow. Thusly, I witnessed the game courtesy of Fox Sports Ohio. 22 members of the 1979 World Series champs were honored before the game and they got to watch Zach Duke, Ryan Doumit and Garrett Jones pitch and pound the Reds into submission. And into the cellar.

The Pirates took over 5th place with their fifth straight win. Duke allowed two runs on eight hits and no walks in seven innings. The Pirates got on Justin Lehr in the first inning with three runs. Doumit was in the middle of it. With the Pirates already up 1-0, one gone in the first and Jones on third, Doumit hit a high bouncer back to Lehr. The Reds hurler wanted to get two and end the inning, but Doumit hustled down the line and was credited with a fielder’s choice RBI. He then swiped second based and scored on a single from Lastings Milledge.

Doumit hit a two run homer high into the seats in right in the fifth to make it 6-1. Jones added a two run double in next frame and the route was on. The Pirates added four more in the 7th. Steve Pearce had a two run single. Had it not been for an acrobatic stop by Brandon Phillips off the bat of Delwyn Young that Phillips helped turn into a double play, it could’ve been worse.

Lehr allowed six runs on 8 hits in five innings.

The Good

Five straight wins.

Fifth place.

Doumit had three hits, scored three times and drove in three.

Jones also had three hits and three runs knocked home.

Duke picks up win #10.

The Bad

Nothing at all, other than me not being in the Steel City tonight.

The Rest

The 19 players from the 1979 team on hand were:

Matt Alexander, Dale Berra, Bert Blyleven, John Candelaria, Mike Easler, Phil Garner, Grant Jackson, Bruce Kison, Lee Lacy, Bill Madlock, Omar Moreno, Steve Nicosia, Ed Ott, Dave Parker, Don Robinson, Jim Rooker, Manny Sanguillen, Rennie Stennett and Kent Tekulve. Chuck Tanner and coach Al Monchak were there along with trainer Tony Bartirome. Willie Stargell’s wife was also there.

Among the deceased in addition to Stargell are Bill Robinson, John Milner, Dave Roberts and Dock Ellis (not on post-season roster). Living players who did not come back were Jim Bibby, Doe Boyland (not on post-season roster), Joe Coleman (not on post-season roster), Tim Foli, Gary Hargis (not on post-season roster), Alberto Lois (not on post-season roster), Rick Rhoden (disabled most of the season), Enrique Romo, Frank Taveras (traded early on for Foli), Ed Whitson (traded for Madlock in June)

This was Doumit’s fifth career game with three runs scored. It was the third time he reached three RBI and three runs scored in one contest.

Jones has six RBI in the last two games.

Duke reached double figures in wins for the second time in his career.

Each of the starting 8 had a hit and scored a run.

Last five game winning streak was May 15 to 20th against Colorado and Washington. Each of the starters were the winning pitcher during the current winning streak.The bullpen picked up three wins during the earlier winning streak.

Luis Cruz got his third start of the year in place of Ronny Cedeno who has a fractured finger.

Welcome back Phil Dumatrait who pitched a scoreless inning, his first game since July 7, 2008.

 

Jones’ Blast, Morton’s Effort Push Bucs to 4th Straight W

The Pirates offense was loudly efficient tonight. The team totaled just five hits. But three of them went for extra bases. Trailing 1-0 with two out in the third, Garrett Jones drilled a three run homer high into the seats in left. In the fourth, Lastings Milledge crushed a solo homer. In the next inning, Andrew McCutchen tripled into the notch and scored on a sac fly from Delwyn Young. And the Pirates were hitless the rest of the way.

Those five runs were all Charlie Morton needed. He allowed two runs in 6-1/3 inning to get the win. Matt Capps brought the tying run to the plate with a single and an error, but escaped without a blemish.

Micah Owings gave up all five Bucco hits and all five runs. He was pulled for a pinch hitter after five innings. Keeping up his strong offensive showings, he singled and scored the Reds first run.

The Good

Four straight wins

Morton’s effort

Jones keeps bashing

1/2 game out of fifth

The Bad

Ronny Cedeno’s error in the 9th caused a few moments of tension

The Rest

Bucs have their first four game winning streak since June 24-27 during interleague play against Cleveland and KC. Not exactly the Yanks and Red Sox.

This was Jones first ever three RBI game. He has the team lead in HR.

Morton won for the first time since July 18.

Owings came into the game with six hits in 12 ABs against the Pirates. His record against the Pirates fell to 1-3.

Bucs 3B have six homers and 43 RBI. Bucs SS have eight homers and 55 RBI. Bottom line: Andy LaRoche has yet to impress. In 2007 Jack Wilson and the Pirates SS outhit Jose Bautista and the Pirates 3B (one more homer and the same number of RBI). Bottom line, Andy LaRoche has been not done a good enough job with the lumber.

Pirates are celebrating the 30th anniversary of the 1979 World Series and each club wore throw back uniforms.

Maholm Pitches Bucs to a Sweep

Paul Maholm evened his record at 7-7 by tossing 7-2/3 innings of one run ball. He gave up seven singles, a double and two walks. Maholm whiffed five Brewers. The defense turned four double plays behind him to help squelch the Milwaukee offense.

The Pirates got their offense on the board quickly and then the bats went silent. Suddenly potent Ronny Cedeno hit a two run dinger off Manny Parra in the second. Delwyn Young added and RBI single the following inning. The Pirates would collect just two more hits after the third inning.

Parra was charged with all three runs in six innings on four hits. He struck out six. Matt Capps tossed a perfect 9th for the save.

The Good

Sweep

Cedeno is hot like Shawon Dunston back in 1997.

The Bad

Nothing

The Rest

With Maholm sitting on 7 wins, Zach Duke at 9 and Ross Ohlendorf already in double figures, the Pirates have a chance to have three pitchers with 10 or more wins for the first time since 2003 when Kip Wells, Josh Fogg and Jeff Suppan all won 10 on the nose.

Young has eight hits in his last 16 at bats. He has 11 RBI in August, his best monthly total of 2009.

Maholm came into the game just 2-5 in thirteen career starts against the Beer Makers. He hit his second career double and just his third career extra base hit.

Parra entered the game having allowed just three earned runs in 11-2/3 in three career starts against Pittsburgh, both of which were in PNC.

 

Bucs Blast Brewers with Three Homers

The Pirates bats finally showed some signs of life, as they backed up a decent enough pitching performance to end an ugly losing skid.

Trailing 1-0 after the first frame, Andy LaRoche’s sixth homer of the year – a solo shot off of Carlos Villanueva – knotted the score after two innings. Villanueva ran into more trouble. The Pirates put 10 men to the dish and scored five times on seven hits. Garrett Jones delivered a tie-breaking two run homer among the knocks.

But Milwaukee crept back in against Kevin Hart. He allowed a solo dinger to Prince Fielder and a two run shot to Mike Cameron to make it 6-4. With the score 7-5, Ronny Cedeno hit a two run homer off of Jesus Colome to give the Pirates the final cushion.

The Good

Hart’s first win as a Pirate. Decent enough outing. Most nights it wouldn’t have been enough, though.

I knew I should’ve bought that Garrett Jones jersey t-shirt at the Dick’s by the Pittsburgh airport.

Delwyn Young had three singles.

The defense turned three double plays.

The Bad

Just one BB earned.

The Rest

Skipper Ken Macha has been hitting SS Alcides Escobar in the 9th spot since J.J. Hardy’s demotion. He did it again in this game.

Hart had his first career two hit game.

This was just the second time in two months that the Pirates tallied 15 hits or more in a game.This was just the second time this month the Pirates scored more than seven runs in a game. This was just the third time since the All-Star break the Pirates put three homers over the fence in one game.

Matt Capps pitched a perfect 9th. It was the first time since July 7th that he didn’t allow a runner on base during an outing. That seems almost unbelievable.

Jason Kendall had two singles. Former Pirate Jody Gerut was unsuccessful in a pinch hitting role.

Andy LaRoche has six homers in 386 ABs. Ronny Cedeno has 8 (including five with Seattle) in 245 ABs.

Remember when Prince Fielder’s vegetarian diet was the cause of his power outage? He hit his 31st homer and now has the league lead in RBIs.

Ohlendorf Gets To Double Digits as Bucs Snap L Streak

Ross Ohlendorf allowed three runs in six plus innings to pick up his 10th win of the season, becoming the first Pirate to hit double digits in wins. He yielded solo homers to Troy Tulowitzki and Carlos Gonzalez among the four hits he allowed.

The Pirates were aided by the wildness of Rockies rookie starter Jhouyls Chacin. He lasted just 2-2/3 innings as he allowed just one hit, but gave up six walks. That lone hit was an RBI double from Ryan Doumit in the second that scored Andrew McCutchen. That run was negated with Tulowitzki’s dinger in the home half of the second. But Chacin’s wildness got the best of him and knocked him from the game in the third. Chacin walked McCutchen and Garrett Jones. On an attempted double steal, Chris Iannetta’s poor throw allowed Cutch to score and Jones to take third. After a two out walk to Steve Pearce, Chacin was yanked in favor of ex-Pirate Josh Fogg. Delwyn Young delivered a two run triple and Ronny Cedeno singled him in as the Pirates scored four times in the frame.

Fogg pitched 4-1/3 and gave up two runs. 

The Good

Have to be happy with Ohlendorf’s season.

McCutchen scored three times, doubled, walked three times and stole three bases.

Jones doubled twice and walked.

Nine walks as a club.

Each of the starting 8 had a knock.

The Bad

I got nothin’.

The Rest

Ohlendorf is the first Pirate pitcher to hit double digits since Tom Gorzelanny and Paul Maholm in 2007. Gorzy won his 10th game on 8/10/07. Maholm did it on 8/23/07.

The nine walks were the second most for the club this season (11 on 6/14 against Detroit). The pitching staff has yielded nine or more walks twice.

After 112 games, the team is 46-66. At the same juncture last year, the mark was 51-61.

Both Fogg and another former Bucco, Joe Beimel, pitched in relief.

This was the third time McCutchen has scored three runs or more in a game in 2009.

The last Pirate to steal three bases in one game was Matt Lawton on 7/26/05.

Snakes Go Extra to Sweep

The Pirates bullpen faltered again. Leading 6-3 heading into the 7th, Jeff Karstens and Jesse Chavez were unable to preserve the win for Bucco newcomer Kevin Hart. Arizona tied it with a solo homer in the 8th from Trent Oeltjen, who was making his ML debut.

After that it stayed knotted 12th when Arizona pounded Steven Jackson for five runs. Alex Romero hit a game breaking two run double in the 12th.

The Pirates got to Max Scherzer with a four run sixth that drove him from the game. He gave up five runs in 5-1/3. He was long gone before it was decided. Hart wasn’t great, but he left with the lead. He allowed nine hits and three runs in six innings before giving way to Karstens.

The Pirates offense managed just three hits after the sixth inning. Ronny Cedeno drove in a pair of runs in the sixth.

Jon Rauch pitched a scoreless 11th for the win. Jackson dropped his second decision of the year.

The Good

It is early, but Cedeno has hit the ball.

The Bad

The bullpen has struggled recently.

The Rest

Oeltjen is a native of Australia and is the first Aussie born player to homer in his first ML game. He is now tied for sixth among all Australian players in career homers.

Jackson had not been scored on in his previous 10-1/3 innings of work.

In the 4th Andy LaRoche was nabbed trying to swipe home as Hart whiffed.

 

Petit One Hits Bucs Through Eight

And then depression set in…

Yusmeiro Petit, whom the Pirates tagged for six runs in 4-1/3 IP on 7/24, allowed just a single to Ronny Cedeno (with no one out in the 8th) and three walks in 8 innings as the D-Backs cruised.

Zach Duke gave up three homers, including a pair to Ryan Roberts. The struggling Chris Young and Roberts both connected for two run bombs in a decisive four run fourth inning.

Duke went five and allowed five runs on nine hits. Petit one for the second time out. He gave way to Leo Rosales who pitched a perfect ninth in a non-save situation to preserve the combined shutout.

The Good

Nada

The Bad

Another shutout and almost a no-no.

Matt Capps continues to struggle. He pitched the 9th and gave up a pair of hits.

The Rest

Petit lowered his ERA by nearly a full run. He has won two straight starts. He has not allowed a run in 14 innings over those two starts.

Roberts has now hit five career homers and three of them are off of Duke, with all three of those coming this season.

Chris Young came into the game hitting less than .200 (he still is) and he hadn’t homered since June 13.