Thank God for the Chicago Cubsa (3-9)

The Pirates have broken the road losing streak by playing the Cubs. Mostly it was because of Paul Malholm. He went 8 innings and only gave up 1 run. That is why he is still the ace of the staff. Andrew McCutchen added an RBI triple and then in the bottom of the 8th, Ryan Doumit hit a single, pinch hitter Ryan Church drew a four pitch walk after Cedano got out. Then Jose Tabata hit a double that just did score Doumit. It was unclear if the ball was going to be caught for a moment, and Doumit was tagging up. Then it hit the wall and went right into the hand of the center fielder and the ball gets to the catcher just as Doumit arrives at the plate. Doumit did not slide despite being told to by Young, who was on deck. It was super close and Doumit almost blew that game for us.

Still, a win is a win. Malholm was great. Dotel plunked Ramirez, but struck out the last two. Alvarez got a hit. It was Alvarez. That is a couple of back to back good starts from Ohlendorf and Malholm giving up a combined one earned run. Karstens was good his last outing too. Maybe the Pirates are about to at least play decent.