CHRISTOPHER PANSINO – OVATHLETICS.COM
The Pirates made it two in a row against the Cubs yesterday. The 4-2 victory was won with great starting pitching and opportunistic hitting from a few key Pirates. This is nothing new as the Pirates have won twelve games this season by average margin of victory of 2 runs.
Yesterday did not stray away from the set pattern that the Pirates have fallen into with their wins lately.
The Pirates got six good innings out of Charlie Morton who gave up two earned runs on five hits. His only two earned runs came in the fourth inning during a seven-batter rally that was more a product of how good the Cubs batters are. The two runs were a product of Aramis Ramirez sacrifice fly and a Mike Fontenot RBI single.
Meanwhile the Pirates had an above average day offensively. Crosby, McCutchen, and Jones all went two for three and contributed to three of the four runs scored in the game. Jones would drive in runs in the first and third innings while McCutchen would drive in one in the third. Crosby, who did not drive in a run, was a key part in both scoring opportunities.
The top four batters in the Pirates lineup– Crosby, LaRoche, McCutchen, and Jones– went a combined seven for sixteen, which is much improved as a whole over the usual lineup, which includes Milledge and Iwamura. Perhaps it was a bit of beginners luck, but fans might see more of this batting lineup in the future.
Ryan Church also contributed hitting a solo homer, his second of the season, to give the Pirates an insurance run in the sixth inning. He would finish the day one for four.
The one thing that was remarkably different was that the Pirates had an excellent day fielding, especially from third baseman Andy LaRoche. LaRoche had three great plays that set above the rest in this game. He had two in the second and one in the sixth that helped to cut those innings short. Combined his great fielding with his .333 batting average and he is making a strong case to be sticking around with the organization in some capacity after Pedro Alvarez is called up from AAA.
The Pirates are now 12-15 and finish their series with the Cubs Thursday evening.
