Ryan Doumit Shows Up | Pirates 6 Cardinals 2

James McDonald went all 2nd Half MVP on us and basically shut down the Cardinals for 5.2 innings tonight. He gave up just 2 runs, one was tagged to him after he left the game, and struck out 4 red birds while walking just 2 and giving up 6 hits. It was unfortunate that he couldn't go deeper into this game, but the bullpen did the job and McDonald got his 8th win of the year.

Ryan Doumit did the heavy lifting on offense, collecting 4 hits and driving in 3 runs. His 3-run home run in the 4th inning broke a 1-1 tie and put the Pirates on top for good. I have really liked what Doumit has shown us at the plate all year long, and I'm a lot higher on him than most people. I understand that it would be kind of foolish for the Pirates to pay him $7 million or whatever it would take to keep him around after seeing how much trouble he has staying healthy, but I think Pittsburgh fans are going to miss his bat more than they think.

Anyways, Neil Walker also had 2 hits and drove in a run, and Xavier Paul drove in the other run with his lead-off home run in the first to deep left center field which just sneaked into the bullpen.

At the end of the day, the Pirates had 11 hits and the Cardinals had 9 and the Pirates outscored their division rivals by 4 and got their 57th win of the year.