The Pirates won a thriller tonight in walk-off fashion over the Reds. The first 7 innings were dominated by the Pirates, as Zach Duke threw up 7 0's to start the game. The Pirates put two on the board in the first thanks to a pair of singles from Akinori Iwamura and Andrew McCutchen, a throwing error on a Lastings Milledge bunt, and a Garrett Jones sacrifice fly. The Pirates scratched their third run across the very next inning when Iwamura singled in Bobby Crosby. After that it was cruise control for Duke until the 8th when he walked the first batter he faced. That caused JR to give him the hook and bring in Joel Hanrahan, who walked one and got one out before exiting. The combination of Javier Lopez and Brendan Donnelly would walk 3 more but get out of the inning holding on to a 1-run lead. Octavio Dotel blew the save when Chris Dickerson tripled and scored on a sac fly in the 9th. He pitched well to limit the damage and keep the game tied, and the Pirates headed to the bottom of the 9th with a chance to walk off.
The inning didn't start well, as Cedeno and Iwamura both went down on strikes with ugly looking swings. However, Andrew McCutchen put together a great at bat and reached first on a ground single through the left side. Cutch then swiped second without a throw and scored on a clutch 3-2 single from Milledge up the middle.
It was a pretty good win for the Pirates, even though their bullpen looked terrible and the offense pretty much shut down after the 2nd inning. They did what they needed to do to win, and that is all that really counts in the end. However, if they keep putting together inconsistent games like this, they won't come out on the winning side very often.
The Pirates host the Reds again tomorrow night at 7:05, check back here for a preview and a liveblog.
