Who should be the player of the game (10-18)

What a game! An 11-9 victory that saw the Pirates hang 9 in the first inning on the hated Brew Crew. Some really great performances.

Pedro Alvarez went 2 for 4 with a walk and both hits were homers. Alvarez hit a grand slam in the first. And a solo shot in the second. Five RBI day for the prospect.

Neil Walker went 4 for 4. How do you top that kind of day. The guy was amazing at the plate. Simply amazing. It was his hit that pushed Dwelven Young to third setting up the back breaking 11th run that killed the Brewer rally. Plus he scored on Alvarez's slam.

Dwelven Young had two hits in a rare start in the outfield. He scored twice and managed to keep a McCutchen-less Pirate outfield on track.

Evan Meek showed his All star stuff. He never even threw a ball. All strikes for an important three up three down 7th.

Dotel pitched a great ninth. He did allow a two strike double to Jim Edmonds, which allowed the tying run to the plate, but struck that guy out. He also fanned Prince Fielder to start the inning.

Hanrahan also pitched a perfect 8th.

D.J. Carrasco came into the game with one out in the second, four runs already scored, a runner on first, and a surging Brewer club confident thanks to Brad Lincoln who got blitzed. Yet Carrasco got out of the inning with no more damage and pitched two more scoreless innings for a 2.2 innings of perfect relief to earn the win.

A game you wish would have been a blow out, but a lot of real good things happened in this game.