Pirates 4-13

9th inning heroics by LaRoche and Aki Iwamura give the Pirates the win. Coming into the top of the ninth the Pirates sat on a one run lead. LaRoche increased it with his first homer, a solo shot. Then with Ryan Church on third after a triple, Aki Iwamura hit a 2 out single to give the Pirates a 6-3 lead. They needed every one of those runs.

Octavio “Doh-tel” almost blew the game. He gave up a lead off double on a 1-2 pitch. He then lost all control to the weak hitting right fielder for the Giants. Had to challenge him so as not to bring the tying run to the plate. So he served up a long ball, and now the Pirates only led by 1 with no outs and the heart of the order coming up. To his credit Dotel recovered and got two quick outs, but the game would end on a sharp line drive to first baseman, Garrett Jones.

Fittingly Jones made the play for the last out as he had a huge game. Jones went three for four, but two were crucial RBI base hits. McCutchen went 1 for 3 with two walks, and scored three times. That is what you need from your two stars. McCutchen is finding ways to be in the middle of everything, and Jones is finding ways to get McCutchen off the basepath, whether it be base hit or homerun. Add in Iwamura doing his thing in the lead off spot and that is the winning formula for the Pirates.

It does need to be said that the Pirates have a bench that is coming through for them this year. Church got a big hit tonight, and stayed in on a double switch. Jones was moved to first and showed why he is a long term option at that position.

Malholm only allowed 3 runs in 5 innings, but something has to be said for only giving up three runs when they get 8 hits. Meek and Donelly were superb out of the pen.