Paul Maholm was tortured by a four run second inning. Other than that, it was a quiet night.
San Diego only collected nine hits, but four of them came in the fateful second. Maholm allowed the six, seven, eight and nine place hitters to reach, with his counterpart Kevin Correia singling in the first run of the game. Two sac flies and a double (from Chris Denorfia) later and it was 4-0.
The Pirates scraped three runs off of Correia. Lastings Milledge hit a two out two run single in the fourth and Jose Tabata hit an RBI grounder a week later. The Pirates did not advance a runner past first base after the fifth inning.
Heath Bell pitched the 9th for the save. Correia was the winner. He went six and allowed three runs (two earned) on six hits. He struck out no one. Maholm allowed four runs on nine hits in six innings.
The Good
Pedro Alvarez had two hits.
The Bad
Ryan Doumit was placed on the shelf following his collision earlier in the week. Welcome back Jason Jaramillo.
Brendan Donnelley walked three without retiring a batter in the 7th.
The Rest
Correia is 2-1 against the Pirates in 7 career appearances (four starts).
Despite an ERA of 3.05 in three career starts coming into the night, Maholm is now 0-3 against San Diego.
Bucs were 43-53 after 96 games last year. This year the record is 34-62.
