After a mediocre start by Kevin Correia, a huge fifth and sixth inning for the Pirates helped guide them to their third straight win. Correia allowed five runs through five innings and he was lucky the offense bailed him out after allowing a three run homer to Allen Craig in the third inning, which gave the Cards a 5-2 lead at the time. Brad Lincoln added onto his solid relief numbers with three scoreless innings and Chris Resop closed the game out.
Neil Walker had a two out, two run single in the top of the first to give the Pirates an early 2-0 lead. The Pirates wouldn't put up too much offense until the fifth inning when Pedro Alvarez had a huge, two out, bases clearing double off of Adam Wainwright to tie the game up. The sixth inning though would get even better as Clint Barmes lead off with his fourth home run of the year and was immediately followed up by Alex Presley who hit a pinch hit home run, the first pinch hit home run for the Bucs on the year. A few batters later Garrett Jones hit a two-run homer, giving the Pirates three home runs in one inning for the first time since 2009. The Pirates put two more runs on the board in the eighth on a RBI single by Casey McGehee and a bases loaded walk to Pedro Alvarez. Andrew McCutchen, who had four hits on the day, hit his 15th home run of the season in the top of the ninth, a three run shot, which capped off one of the better offensive games of the season for the Pirates.
The Pirates posted season highs in runs scored and hits and are currently leading the National League in runs scored on the month. Hopefully the Bucs can keep up the big offensive numbers tomorrow and Sunday.