CHRISTOPHER PANSINO – OVATHLETICS.COM
The nice part about baseball is no matter how bad a team played in their last game, it is only one game in a very long season. And much like many of the earlier blowout losses the Pirates were able to rebound nicely. The Buco accomplished the improbable 2-1 win in typical fashion, a low scoring affair in which solid staring pitching and timely hitting ruled the day.
The Pirates got off a good start early on a double by Ryan Doumit and a double by Andy LaRoche in the second gave them the 1-0 lead.
The hitting was much improved over Monday nights game, when the Pirates were outhit 13 to 5. In last nights game the Pirates nine hits, over the Phillies six, was a big reason they came away with the win.
But the story of the night was the packaged win that the Phillies fielding delivered. The Phillies had three errors in the game. The most memorable was the one by catcher Carlos Ruiz that allowed Lasting Mileage to score from second.
Yet, even with all the scoring opportunities the Pirates kept the game close and relied heavily on their pitching to help win the game.
Pitching ace Zack Duke had a good game giving up only one earned run on six hits. Duke went on to strikeout five batters in his six innings of pitching. Duke was removed after throwing 94 pitches for Evan Meek.
The bullpen was also much improved over lasts nights game, not allowing a single hit and only one walk in the final three innings.
Even Octavio Dotel did not need any extra motivation tonight to get his eighth save of the season, putting down the Phillies batters in order.
The Pirates split the two game series with the Phillies. The two teams will meet again for a four game series coming up on independence weekend.
The Pirates will head home for another two game series, this time against their inner-divisional opponent the Milwaukie Brewers.
