First place all alone

Tony Watson is great!!! He really stepped up tonight. He pitched 2.2 innings in relief of Morton, who struggled but did not allow any runs. This was real important heading into these stretch of series. We need a rested bullpen, and coming off an extra inning affair having Watson eat innings was good. He did fail to get out of the eighth but it was because of a questionable catcher's interference call. Although judging by the reaction of McKenry after the final out of the inning was recorded, it may have been. That help was Daniel McCutchen who needed just a few pitches to get the pop out. Hanrahan, who blew a save last night, nailed this one down with ease.

There was not much in the hitting department. d'Arnaud broke out of his slump with a hit, an aggressive base running play allowed him to score on a McCutchen ground out. He went first to third on a Walker base hit. He took a knee to the head and left later with a stiff neck. Walker continued his now 12 game hitting streak. McCutchen continued his mini-slump, but did get that RBI ground out. He is closer to his 100 run and 100 RBI season. That has not happened since Jason Bay was still a Pirate.

Morton got the win, but was very wild. How he avoided giving up runs is beyond me. He plunked two guys. He made it through 5, but was close to 100 pitches by that point. Watson did the rest.

The Pirates go for the series win tomorrow. The Brewers lost out in Arizona in what promises to be a tough series for them, so this is the time for the Pirates to grab a division lead, put the Reds out of it, and go into the Cards series on a roll. The Pirates are now 6-1 against the Reds this year.