Bucs Rally in 7th, Hold on to Win

I pretty much gave a recap up to the 7th inning last night that sums up the Buccos' 4-2 win over the Milwaukee "Former best record in the league" Brewers.

Gorzo looked alright early, but started to struggle in the 6th. Ronny Paulino had caught Tony Graffanino in a rundown as he was trying to steal 2nd on a hit and run with pitcher Dave Bush (Why would you use Dave Bush for a hit and run? He showed bunt, then swung through, whiffing on some Gorzo heat). Gorzo seemed to either jam his knee on the pitch, or when he ducked after Paulino began running at Graffanino. He took a couple practice pitches before tossing a passed ball, allowing J.J. Hardy to score from 3rd. The Bucs were down 2-0 at this point, and Gorzo looked finished.

However, a new Pirate offense came out in the 7th.

Freddy Sanchez laced a double to center, and scored when Jason Bay waited on an off-speed pitch, and delivered a fluke shot that fell between 1st and right. Smart base running by Bay allowed him to hustle to 2nd. Ryan Doumit grounded out and Xavier Nady hit a soft liner to Prince Fielder. With two outs, it got to the point where I was talking to my television. "Come on, Bucs. Its the 7th inning. You already got a run, but now we need to get Bay in. There aren't many more chances in this game to tie it up. If we get a third out now, the bottom of the order is coming up in the 8th, and Gorzo is about to get relieved." Pirate's television analyst Bob Walk countered with his, "Bautista needs to work on his power" speech. Bautista absolutely jumped on the next pitch, crushing it to deep left. 3-2 Pirates. Gorzo looked pumped. He still didn't close his mouth. Paulino decided to trot around the bases as well, smacking a pitch to right center. 4-2 Pirates, so Gorzo came up to bat. I was happy, because after the offense showed some life, Gorzo was in like for his 4th win.

He stayed out in the bottom of the 7th, and made a difficult defensive play, diving and tagging out a bunting Tony Gwynn Jr. with the same hand. Awesome. Gorzo sold himself out for the team, and was rewarded with win number 4.

The 13-14 record is good for 2nd in the division, and now puts the Pirates only 4.5 games behind Milwaukee with 2 games left in the series.

Well That Was a Bummer

The Pirates fell to the Cubs twice yesterday. Chicago held on to win the rain-delayed game 8-6, and touched Ian Snell for four runs in five innings in the ensuing, "real" game. The Bucs also lost that contest, 7-1. Ryan Doumit homered, and that was about it. 3 other hits were spread over the game by your awesome Bucs offense.

So after managing to hang on to a .500 record due to postponement, the Bucs suffered 2 divisional losses on the same day, and now sit at 12-14. The Brew Crew (18-9) sent the Redbirds (10-16) to their 5th straight loss, and lead the Central by a full 5 games over Cincinnati (13-14), and 5.5 over Pittsburgh(12-14) and Chicago (also 12-14). Houston (11-15), is only one game ahead of that World Champion bottom-feeding team from St. Louis.

The Brewers have won 4 in a row, so it is only fitting that the Pirates should start a series with them tonight. The Cubs entered this past series on a 4 game win streak of their own, and were able to take 3 of 4 against Pittsburgh. The Pirates send Tom Gorzelanny (3-1, 3.06 ERA) out to face Dave Bush (2-2, 6.23 ERA). Here's an extremely long post about Gorzo, which I first read via Mondesi's House. Nice to see he's getting some love.