Good News

The game isn't over yet, but I've seen enough to write this post.

Charlie Morton threw six very strong shut-out innings. Pedro Alvarez hit a bomb for his 4th homer of the year. Both of those happened in the same game, that's something we haven't been seeing a lot lately.

Ground Chuck is looking to finish his season strong and has his ERA down to 3.67 after throwing up six zeroes tonight. He struck out five in those innings while walking three. It is always a good thing to see a strong start from one of your pitchers, but it always seems a little more satisfying when Morton does it.

Alvarez was the other good story tonight. Now Pedro has seemed to only have had a handful of good games at the plate this year, which is extremely frustrating, but tonight was one of those nights. He hit an absolute blast to right field for his fourth home run of the year. All four of his home runs have been on the road. Post coming up about that tomorrow or Thursday.

Chris Leroux was kind of disappointing tonight, which you can excuse because of how good he has been lately. Jason Grilli did a great job cleaning up for Leroux after he allowed two singles to start his inning. Grilli gave up a run on a single but then got three outs without allowing another. Tony Watson also did a good job cleaning things up for Veras and the Pirates look well on their way to a victory as Joel Hanrahan is warming up as I type.

It's looking to be a good win for the Pirates, knock on wood. Regardless of what might happen in the 9th, it was a positive game for the Bucs during a time when wins and losses do not mean much.