A wild pitch tied the game last night. Tonight it untied it. Joel Hanrahan uncorked a wild one with two outs and the bases juiced, allowing Freddy Sanchez to scamper home with the go ahead notch.
John Lannan scattered seven hits in seven innings to hold the suddenly potent Pirates offense to just one run. Paul Maholm labored a bit (114 pitches in six innings while retiring the side in order just once), but allowed just one run as well.
The Pirates loaded the bases with three singles off Hanrahan. After Brandon Moss’ grounder forced Delwyn Young at home, Hanrahan’s pitch to Andy LaRoche went awry.
The Good
My view (mostly from the bench at my son’s game tonight and then at home ‘watching’ on line) shows that Maholm battled through even though he might not have had his best stuff.
Five straight wins. Granted three of those are against Washington.
Good stuff from the bullpen. Three innings of shutout ball. John Grabow was the winner. Matt Capps saved it.
The Bad
Buc batters stranded 13 runners.
The Rest
Pirates have hung a loss on pitchers named Joel on consecutive Wednesdays. Last week it was Joel Pineiro.
It has been over a year since the team has won five or more in a row. Last time was 5/6-12/08 whent the Pirates won six straight.
