The Pirates have not been doing a lot right in the last couple series, however they bounced back with a pretty solid performance today. Despite the lack of offense (which we have grown sickeningly used to), the Pirates were able to earn their 6th victory in 7 games against the Cubs.
The story of the game was Ross Ohlendorf, who went 7 innings giving up only 3 hits while striking out 6. He surrendered 1 earned run which should not have been an earned run as a routine (and rather deep) fly ball was dropped due to lack of communication from Ryan Church and Andrew McCutchen. Ross was on his game today, going right after hitters and getting incredible results. He walked only 2 batters, which is a great sign since that has been his biggest problem so far this year. The 6 strikeouts are also very encouraging because he has been getting hit hard and really not getting a lot of swings and misses. Ross really took a giant leap in the right direction today.
The offense collected only 7 hits, and scratched across only 2 runs. Garrett Jones hit his 6th homer of the year and also scored the 2nd run when Bobby Crosby singled in the 8th inning. Evan Meek and Octavio Dotel put up 2 0's and the Pirates put their losing streak to a hault. The Pirates got 2 more hits from Neil Walker, who has been fantastic. Neil is hitting .321 in his time with the Pirates. He was also robbed of a double by Kosuke Fukudome in the first inning on a ball he ripped to right. We knew what we could expect from Neil defensively, and he has given us that, but what he has done with his bat has been a huge help. The best part is that he isn't just hitting weak singles, he is hitting the ball hard down the lines and into the gaps and racking up the extra base hits. Let's hope he can keep it up and be a table setter for the middle of the order.
The Pirates have 2 more games with the Cubs before a much needed day off before facing the Giants in a weekend 3-game set.
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