The Pirates have had some trouble getting big hits this year, but they got a bunch of them tonight. They got 7 extra base hits. Doubles came from Jose Tabata, Lyle Overbay, Ronny Cedeno, and Andrew McCutchen (who had 2 of them), Overbay added a rare triple, and Brandon Wood hit a home run. Yes, Brandon Wood hit a home run.
When all was said and done, the Pirates collected 10 hits and scored 6 runs, and that's going to win you a ballgame when Charlie Morton is on the mound.
"Ground Chuck" went 7 innings and gave up only 2 earned runs on 6 hits while striking out 5. That lowered his season ERA to 2.52, with only a few more starts before the all-star game, it would see unjust for Morton not to make the team.
Jose Veras got back on the mound and pitched well after a rough outing Thursday in New York, throwing a perfect 8th inning before Joel Hanrahan came in in the 9th with a 4-run lead. Hanny struggled a bit giving up a run on 3 hits and allowing the go-ahead run to come to the plate, but he got out of the jam and shut the door on the Pirates 28th win of the year.
Haven't updated you on the offense/starting pitching season stats in awhile, so let's do that. The Pirates are now hitting .238 as a team (.299 in their last 4 games) and scoring 3.8 runs per game. The starting pitching is what has the Pirates playing competitive baseball seemingly every night, with a staff ERA of 3.63 after two very strong starts to open this Phillies series. Here's the rest of those statistics:
The Pirates are 6-4 in their last 10 games and will look to sweep the Phillies tomorrow as James McDonald toes the rubber against one of the best in the business, Roy Halladay. The Pirates faced Halladay last year and actually beat him 2-1 despite Doc pitching a complete game.
Grab a broom and get down to the ballpark, there have been far too many Phillies fans down there thus far this weekend. The Pirates are playing great baseball and have a chance to reach .500 tomorrow, a pretty significant milestone this late in the season for our Buccos.