Tough to argue with the result as the Pirates moved two games over .500 on the year. Jeff Karstens was good over 6 plus. The Pirates put up a single tally in each of the first three innings and the pitching made it hold up.
Karstens scattered two singles, a double and two walks in six innings. He yielded just one run. Freddy Sanchez homered and doubled to drive the offense.
Cameron Maybin homered in the 8th to narrow the lead to 3-2 and Florida stranded two runners later in the inning.. Matt Capps tossed the 9th to get the save.
The Good
Two games over .500!
Karstens continues the string of nice starting pitching efforts. He was even interviewed on Baseball Tonight.
Three double plays from the defense, including one to end the game.
Jason Jaramillo doubled in a run (it was thisclose to a homer) and threw out Maybin trying to steal. Nice job. He’ll be seeing a lot of action with Ryan Doumit being out with a broken bone in his wrist.
The Bad
Blame the NHL and the poor weather for the attendance (less than 10,000 paid). While you can.
The Rest
Was anyone there tonight? Ronny Paulino played. Was he booed? Cheered? Ignored?
