Anyone here not impressed by Andrew McCutchen. The Bucs rookie CF was involved in all three Pirate runs – scoring once and driving in two – as the Pirates erased a two run deficit against Cliff Lee.
Lee and Ross Ohlendorf each allowed two runs in seven innings of work. Neither got the decision. That would be left to the bullpens. Both relief corps walked the bases loaded in the 8th. For the Pirates John Grabow walked three but escaped when he whiffed Ryan Garko. Earlier in the inning Nyjer Morgan tracked down a long fly off the bat of Victor Martinez. Joe Smith walked two in 1/3 IP and Rafael Perez walked one, but got Jason Jaramillo to ground into an inning ending DP.
Matt Herges was on in the 9th but gave up three straight singles – to Jack Wilson, Eric Hinske and Cutch – for a walk off win for the Pirates. Matt Capps tossed the 9th for his first win of the year.
The Good
Have to be happy taking 2 of 3.
Ohlendorf was fine, allowing five hits and three walks in seven.
McCutchen has a 13 game hitting streak.
The Bad
The offense continues to gimp along. There was clutchness when it counted most tonight.
The Rest
This was the fourth time this year Ohlendorf pitched seven or more innings. Ian Snell has gone that far just three times. Jeff Karstens pitched seven or more just once in his 10 starts before being pulled from the rotation.
A scary thought hit me that Cutch’s start is too reminiscent of Chris Duffy’s hot start back in 2005.
Jack Wilson had his fifth game this year with three or more hits. He had just five such games in all of 2008.
