The Pirates won the rubber match and second game of the double header by a final score of 5 to 1. Charlie Morton started for the Pirates and pitched seven innings, giving up only one run on a solo homerun by Ramon Hernandez. Brad Lincoln pitched two perfect innings for the Pirates and struck out two. Morton was able to pick up a victory thanks to the Pirates being able to put together a five run inning.
One of the more productive offensive innings of the season came in the sixth inning tonight. The Pirates scored two runs to start the innings on misplayed balls by left fielder Carlos Gonzalez. Cargo had trouble tracking down a Nate McLouth flyball which led to an RBI and also an Andrew McCutchen flyball the next at bat which brought McLouth across. The sun got the best of Gonzalez today and that led to a huge inning for the Pirates. Garrett Jones followed up with a two run homerun to right field on a ball that was absolutely crushed and Pedro Alvarez hit a solo shot the next at bat to go back to back for the first time since Lyle Overbay and Brandon Wood did so a year ago. It was Pedro's fourth homerun of the season and he has already tied his total for last year as far as that goes and Jones homerun was also the first homerun that drove in more than one run. Yamaico Navarro and Charlie Morton were the only Pirate starters without a hit and Garrett Jones, Pedro Alvarez, and Clint Barmes all finished with multi hit games.
I stumbled upon a couple solid facts from the Post-Gazettes Michael Sanserino which both involved the recent play of Pedro Alvarez and Clint Barmes. Barmes came into this homestand batting .089 and six games later stands at a record of .179. Certainly not a good average but definitely something the Pirates want to see after Barmes looked lost at the plate through the first dozen games. I also read that Alvarez has hit .300 in his past 20 at bats with three homeruns and five RBIs. It is good to see these two come along and pick up some big hits for the Pirates like they did this homestand and hopefully they can continue to play this way.
The Pirates stand two games behind .500 and are set to open up a four game series in Atlanta this Friday.