Final: Nationals 7, Pirates 4

WP: Gio Gonzalez (5-1, 2.22 ERA)
LP: Erik Bedard (2-5, 3.07 ERA)
SV: Henry Rodriguez (9, 4.32 ERA)

Erik Bedard was cruising. It was the 6th inning and he had just struck out Bryce Harper and Ryan Zimmerman to set down 11 straight National hitters. But then former Pirates Adam LaRoche and Xavier Nady hit back-to-back homers to give Washington a 4-1 lead.

Josh Harrison hit a 2-run homer in the 7th to cut the lead to 4-3, but newly promoted Evan Meek quickly gave those back and then some as he loaded the bases in the following inning. Laroche, once again, dealt a blow with a 3-run, bases clearing double to put the Nats up 7-3. The Pirates added one in the 8th, but that would be all they would get.

Andrew McCutchen went 2 for 4 and is now hitting .344/.404/.488 on the year. In his career against the Nationals, he is 36 for 80 (.450) with eight home runs, the most against any team he’s faced.

I’d like to say something about Evan Meek’s inning of relief. He gave up three runs, which essentially cost the Pirates the game, but he looked a lot better than he did just a couple of weeks ago. His average fastball was 94.2 mph and hit as high as 96.3 mph. His average fastball for the season was 92.7 mph going into today. No he just needs to stop walking people.

Josh Harrison was 2 for 3 with his first homer of the season. Clint Barmes was 0 for 4 with three strikeouts. I still don’t think it is time to play Harrison over Barmes, but that time is getting closer. I think I’ll actually have a more detailed post about that later this evening or tomorrow morning.

Jared Hughes pitched a scoreless 8th inning of relief and has now pitched eight straight scoreless innings out of the bullpen. His ERA is down to 1.31 over 20 2/3 innings this year.

Final: Marlins 6, Pirates 2

WP: Josh Johnson (1-3, 5.36 ERA)
LP: Kevin Correia (1-4, 4.50 ERA)

The Pirates grabbed an early lead with a run in the 1st inning, but Kevin Correia quickly relinquished that lead and then the wheels came off in the 4th inning when he gave up five runs before being removed from the game.

The Pirates added a run in the 7th with a solo homer by Michael McKenry, but they were in too big a hole to ever really threaten the Marlins at any point after the 4th.

The Pirates bullpen pitched another 4 1/3 scoreless innings today, which means they are on a 16 inning scoreless streak and now have a 2.44 ERA on the season.

Alex Presley was 0 for 3 as he continues his slump. He is 0 for his last 14 and 2 for his last 24. He really needs to get going because he is pretty much useless if he is not hitting since he isn’t going to get on base by walking.

Final: Pirates 3, Marlins 2

WP: Brad Lincoln (3-0, 1.33 ERA)
LP: Anibal Sanchez (2-1, 2.28 ERA)
SV: Joel Hanrahan (7, 3.55 ERA)

You can’t ask for any more out of a spot starter. Brad Lincoln, who has dominated in a long relief role, was able to carry over that success in his first start of the year. Over six innings, he gave up just two runs on four hits and one walk while striking out three.

The Pirates scored first in the 1st inning on an Andrew McCutchen sacrifice fly that plated Jose Tabata after he led off the game with a double. Rod Barajas would account for the 2nd run of the game with a solo blast in the 2nd inning.

The Bucs took the lead for good in the 5th inning, Pedro Alvarez drove a ball to the gap in left center field to score McCutchen from first base.

Jared Hughes, Jason Grilli, and Joel Hanrahan shut things down as each pitched a scoreless inning of relief to seal the win.

It was the Pirates’ 3rd straight win and it puts them at 17-18 for the season, just three games out of 1st place in the NL Central.

Over the last four innings, literally 25% of the Pirates outs were by either (failed) sacrifice bunt attempts or caught stealing. I know it is something that we joke about on Twitter a lot during the game, but Clint Hurdle really has to rethink some of his in-game managing decisions, or the Pirates aren’t going to win games like this often.

Don’t look now, but Rod Barajas has six hits over his last four games. Two of those are home runs and another two are doubles. He has a higher OPS than Albert Pujols.

Jason Grilli is going to give me a heart-attack some day soon. I feel like every inning he pitches, he is miraculously getting out of some type of jam, which is immediately followed by awesome fist pumps.

Final: Pirates 3, Astros 2 (12)

WP: Tony Watson (3-0, 4.26 ERA)
LP: Fernando Rodriguez (1-4, 4.15 ERA)

I really don’t want to get into how badly mismanaged this game was by Clint Hurdle, so I’m just going to be very grateful for the win. I’ll take winning a game in which BOTH Rod Barajas and Clint Barmes somehow played first base in.

A.J. Burnett was spectacular keeping the Bucs in this one as the offense stumbled throughout the game. In eight innings, he gave up just two runs on six hits. He struck out four and didn’t walk a batter.

The Pirates took a 1-0 lead in the first inning with back-to-back doubles by Neil Walker and Andrew McCutchen, but were shut down until they scored on a sacrifice fly by Pedro Alvarez in the 9th inning to tie the game up off Astros’ closer Brett Myers.

Clint Barmes, with two outs in the bottom of the 12th, legged out a double to left and Josh Harrison drove him in with a single to win it.

Burnett’s start was the 2nd in a row where he pitched eight innings. It’s hard not to absolutely love what he has done so far since being acquired. Outside of his 12-run debacle three starts ago, he has a 1.86 ERA in 29 innings pitched with 29 strikeouts and just six walks.

The Pirates bullpen continues to pitch exceptionally well. Jason Grilli, Joel Hanrahan, Juan Cruz, and Tony Watson each pitched a scoreless inning to keep the Astros at two runs throughout the extra innings. Over 107 innings this season, the bullpen has a 2.61 ERA, which is 2nd best in the National League.

Final: Pirates 5, Astros 2

WP: Charlie Morton (2-3, 4.05 ERA)
LP: J.A. Happ (2-3, 5.72 ERA)
SV: Juan Cruz (3, 0.69 ERA)

Andrew McCutchen was 4 for 4 for the 2nd time this week as he belted his 3rd home run of the season to lead the Pirates to a much-needed win Saturday night.

Charlie Morton pitched well enough to earn the win as he gave up just two runs (one earned) over six innings. He did not strike out a batter but was able to get his sinker going, forcing 14 ground ball outs.

The Pirates scored early in the first thanks to a lead off triple by Jose Tabata and they would lead the remainder of the game. Tabata would also add a solo homer later in the game.

After McCutchen’s 4 for 4 night, he is now hitting .342/.403/.495. Since coming back from the flu, ‘Cutch is 11 for 17 (.647) with three homers. It was his 3rd four-hit night this year, tying him for most in the Majors.

The Pirates’ bullpen combined for three scoreless innings and Juan Cruz pitched a scoreless 9th for his third save of the year. The previous two saves were earned when Joel Hanrahan tweaked his hamstring. Cruz is looking like one very solid minor league free agent signing.

Pedro Alvarez ended his slump with an opposite field double in the 6th inning tonight. He also drew a walk. He had been 0 for his last six games before tonight.

Only three Pirates collected hits tonight (Tabata, McCutchen, and Alvarez). That’s pretty amazing considering that the club somehow scored five runs with that happening.

Final: Astros 1, Pirates 0

WP: Bud Norris (3-1, 3.95 ERA)
LP: James McDonald (2-2, 2.42 ERA)
SV: Brett Myers (9, 0.77 ERA)

James McDonald was spectacular. The rest of the Pirates, not so much.

After giving up a run in the 2nd inning, McDonald cruised through the rest of his start as he struck out eight Astros in eight innings while giving up just four hits and two walks.

In the 6th inning, it looked as if the Pirates were going to break through and take over when Rod Barajas led off the inning with a double off the wall. Clint Barmes then singled him over to third and James McDonald would reach on an error on a sacrifice bunt attempt to load up the bases with no outs and the top of the order coming up. Jose Tabata would then strike out. Nate McLouth got out due to the infield fly rule. And Andrew McCutchen struck out to end the inning.

The Pirates never threatened again in what was one of the most frustrating games you will ever watch.

Andrew McCutchen and Pedro Alvarez, the Pirates 3-4 hitters tonight, combined to go 0 for 7 with five strikeouts. That obviously, is never good. Alvarez is 0 for his last 18.

James McDonald has been on a complete tear lately. After today’s outing, he has given up more than one run just once over his last five starts.

There was, however, one silver lining to tonight’s game:

Haha.

Final: Nationals 4, Pirates 2

WP: Stephen Strasburg (3-0, 1.64 ERA)
LP: Kevin Correia (1-3, 3.47 ERA)
SV: Henry Rodriguez (7, 2.63 ERA)

The last time the Pirates face Strasburg, it was in his ML debut in front of a national audience. He dominated them. It was pretty much a lot of the same this time around. Over six innings, Strasburg gave up two runs (one earned) on five hits and three walks while striking out 13 Pirates.

The Pirates were able to jump out to a 2-0 lead in the 4th thanks to RBI singles by Andrew McCutchen and Neil Walker.

Kevin Correia cruised through five innings without giving up a run, but gave up three runs on two home runs before recording an out in the 6th that gave the Nats the lead for good.

Final: Pirates 4, Nationals 2

WP: Brad Lincoln (2-0, 0.63 ERA)
LP: Ross Detwiler (3-2, 2.10 ERA)
SV: Joel Hanrahan (6, 4.22 ERA)

It looks like Andrew McCutchen is over his flu. He went 4 for 4 tonight with a solo home run in the 8th inning, his second of the season, and second in as many nights. He is now hitting .330/.393/.470 on the year.

The big story in the beginning of this game was Erik Bedard. After delivering a pitch to Adam LaRoche in the 2nd inning, Bedard was forced to leave the game due to back spasms [link]. Back spasms definitely are not good, as they are a huge pain and can linger, but when I saw on my phone “injury timeout” I was pretty happy to see it was not an elbow/shoulder issue at least. Hopefully he can get healthy quick.

The Pirates bullpen was awesome today. Brad Lincoln relieved Bedard in the 2nd and pitched three innings giving up just one unearned run. Jared Hughes then pitched two scoreless innings. Juan Cruz, Jason Grilli, and Joel Hanrahan then closed things out.

Yamaico Navarro robbed Ian Desmond of a home run in the 4th inning. It was probably the weirdest rob of a homer I’ve ever seen because it was just so nonchalant [video].

Pedro Alvarez was 0 for 4 tonight, but it was probably the one of the better 0 for 4 performances you will ever see. He hit two balls to the warning track in to center and left center, and had an opposite field single taken from him on a sliding grab by Roger Bernadina.

Stephen Strasburg will face Kevin Correia tomorrow. If you are in the Pittsburgh area, he really is worth the price of admission. Of course, I’m referring to All-Star Kevin Correia.