Late Home Runs Beat The Red Birds | Pirates 5 Cardinals 4

On the same night that Lyle Overbay had a game winning hit for the Diamondbacks off of Roy Halladay, Neil Walker and Garrett Jones hit home runs in the 9th and 11th innings to tie and win the game.

Jeff Karstens made the start for the Pirates and did a pretty nice job, going 5.1 innings and allowing just 3 earned. He struck out 5 and walked 2. The bullpen did a good job up until the 9th, when Joel Hanrahan gave up the go ahead run (his first run allowed in his last 14 innings). It didn't look good for the Pirates heading to the bottom of the 9th and Cardinals closer Fernando Salas coming in with a 2.20 ERA, but Walker wasted no time in depositing a pitch over the right center field wall to send the game into extra innings. Chris Resop did a great job pitching 2 scoreless innings of free baseball and earning the win when Jones bounced a ball into the river to walk it off for the Bucs 58th win of the year.

Andrew McCutchen homered earlier in the game, a 3-run shot, so the Pirates had a rare 3 home run game. Jose Tabata had a hit in his return from the DL and should provide a boost for the offense. Alex Presley is also progressing and could be back for the weekend series.

Tonight was a big night in a couple ways. The Pirates locked up a series win against a division rival and a very solid baseball team in the Cardinals, and they also officially clinched improvement from last year. The team was 57-105 last year, and right now they are 58-63, quite a bit better.

They'll look for their first 3-game home sweep of the season tomorrow as Paul Maholm faces Kyle Lohse at 7:05.