Scores:
Friday: 6-1 Loss at Atlanta. One bad inning from the bullpen. Box score.
Saturday: 4-2 Win at Atlanta. Score early and hang on late. Solid pitching. Box score.
Sunday: 4-3 Loss at Atlanta. Sloppy defense, 1 for 13 with RISP. Box score.
Monday: 9-3 Win at Atlanta. Finally, the bats break out. Box score.
Season Record: 10-12, 4th place in the NL Central
Splitting four games on the road versus a good team is a very acceptable result. Nice to see the bats come alive too.
Earlier I posted a little about Pedro Alvarez, but I want to reiterate that he was their best player this weekend. He looked loose and confident, which was a marked difference from how I saw him in March. Andrew McCutchen on the other hand looked to be pressing to get the big hit every time up. If both of those guys were hitting at the same time, watch out.
All four starters looked good. I watched James McDonald warm up in the bullpen and he was all over the place. When he started so shaky in the first and second it looked like it was going to be a long game. But as he sometimes does, he figured it out and shut the door on the Braves from that point on.
Combined Box
| Pittsburgh | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | LOB | AVG |
| McCutchen, A, CF | 16 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 4 | 0.188 |
| Walker, 2B | 14 | 2 | 7 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0.500 |
| Alvarez, 3B | 14 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 10 | 0.357 |
| Tabata, RF | 14 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 0.357 |
| Presley, LF | 13 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 0.308 |
| Jones, G, 1B | 12 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 0.167 |
| Barmes, SS | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 9 | 0.000 |
| McGehee, 1B | 9 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 0.222 |
| Barajas, C | 8 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 0.250 |
| Navarro, LF | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0.500 |
| McKenry, C | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.333 |
| McDonald, J, P | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0.000 |
| Bedard, P | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0.000 |
| McLouth, PH | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.000 |
| Burnett, AJ, P | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.000 |
| Correia, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.000 |
| 126 | 17 | 33 | 14 | 15 | 34 | 51 | 0.262 |
Batting
Doubles (11): Presley (4), Alvarez 3 (4), Walker 2 (2), McCutchen (6), Jones (3), Tabata 2 (3), McGehee (3)
HomeRuns (2): Alvarez (5), Navarro (1)
BaseRunning
SB: McCutchen (5), Walker (1)
CS: Presley (3)
Fielding
Errors: Tabata (1), McCutchen (1), Alvarez (3), Resop (1)
Double Plays: (Walker-McGehee), (Barmes-Walker-Jones)
| Pittsburgh | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA |
| McDonald, J(W, 1-1) | 7.7 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 10 | 1 | 3.52 |
| Burnett, A.J. (L, 1-1) | 6.0 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 0 | 3.00 |
| Bedard (W, 1-4) | 5.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 0 | 1.80 |
| Correia (L, 1-1) | 4.3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 4.15 |
| Meek | 2.7 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3.38 |
| Resop(H, 2) | 2.3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3.86 |
| Lincoln | 2.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4.50 |
| Grilli (H, 4) | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Hanrahan (S, 4) | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Cruz, J (H, 2) | 1.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Watson | 1.0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 27.00 |
| 34.0 | 33 | 15 | 14 | 15 | 36 | 2 | 3.71 |
Transaction: After Sunday’s game Evan Meek was optioned to AAA. Jared Hughes was called back up.
Up Next:
Three games in St. Louis (14-8, 1st place in NL Central). Earlier in the year the Cards took two of three from the Pirates. Expected Matchups:
Charlie Morton (1-1, 2.65 ERA) vs. Adam Wainwright (0-3, 7.32 ERA)
A.J. Burnett (1-1, 1.38 ERA) vs Lance Lynn (4-0, 1.33 ERA)
Erik Bedard (1-4, 2.48 ERA) vs. Jake Westbrook (3-1, 1.30 ERA)
Filed under: baseball, Pirates Tagged: | A.J. Burnett, Adam Wainwright, Andrew McCutchen, baseball, Braves, Charlie Morton, Erik Bedard, Evan Meek, Jake Westbrook, James McDonald, Jared Hughes, Lance Lynn, Pedro Alvarez, Pirates
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