After taking two of three from Milwaukee, the Pirates kept their great play alive in Cincinnati. AJ Burnett got the nod for the Bucs and had a solid start. He only pitched five innings, but he struck out eight. He did allow three runs but AJ picked a good day to not have his best stuff as the offense would back him up and help him pick up another win. Chris Resop pitched two innings and struck out four. He allowed a run, but it was charged to Burnett. Tony Watson pitched a scoreless inning and Juan Cruz was unable to close the game out, which led to Joel Hanrahan picking up his 15th save. Hanrahan struck out Phillips, Bruce, and Heisey with runners on second and third to close it out.
Every starting Pirate with the exception of Rod Barajas and AJ Burnett picked up at least one hit. Casey McGehee, Alex Presley, Neil Walker, and Clint Barmes all tallied up multi hit games. One of McGehee's hits was an opposite field home run which was his first as a Pirate. The recently recalled Alex Presley had a triple and home run in his first start since the middle of May. Neil Walker broke a 2-2 tie in the fourth inning with a two run bomb to straight away centerfield, and the Pirates wouldn't look back from there. Barmes had a two run single later on in that inning and would finish the game with three hits and three RBIs.
The Pirates are currently two games over .500 and only two games behind Cincinnati for the division lead. They look to cut that deficit in half tomorrow night with a start at 7:10.