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Pittsburgh

Game 132: Bucs Return Favor, Drill Cubbies

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One night after being blown out, the Pirates piled on the Cubs, scoring 14 runs on 15 hits in a laugher.

Pittsburgh jumped on Ryan Dempster early. Jose Tabata drew a one out walk. Neil Walker singled – his first of four hits – and pushed Tabata to third. Garrett Jones grounded out, bringing in Tabata. Pedro Alvarez doubled – his only hit of the night that came before he whiffed four times – to knock in Walker. Ryan Doumit was HBP and Ronny Cedeno doubled in two more runs. It was four to zip before the Cubs came to bat.

Jeff Karstens tossed shutout baseball until the fifth inning when Koyie Hill hit a two run dinger. By that time, the Pirates had added more runs. Tabata tripled in Andrew McCutchen in the second. In the third McCutchen knocked in two with a single. Jones hit a two run homer in the fourth off Marcos Mateo, who relieved Dempster.

The Pirates didn’t quit after Hill’s homer. Walker homered in the sixth to push the lead to 11-2. In the seventh, Tabata drove in another run with a single and Walker’s double brought in two more runs.

The Cubs scored five times in the eighth off Sean Gallagher and Chan Ho Park to make the final score 14-7.

Dempster allowed seven runs in three innings. He walked three and struck out four. Karstens gave up two runs in six innings. He struck out six and walked none.

The Good
Tabata and McCutchen had three hits.

Walker had four hits, scored three times and drove in four runs.

Bucs didn’t walk anyone.

The Bad
Bucs tallied both 15 hits and 15 whiffs.

The Rest
Karstens is 3-2 against the Cubs. Dempster is now 6-10 against the Buccos.

With 30 games left, the Pirates need to go 19-11 to avoid 100 losses. Their best 30 game mark came in the first 30 games of the season and in that stretch they only went 14-16. Say hello to 100 losses.

Karstens had lost eight straight decisions and four straight starts.

This was Walker’s second career four RBI game and the fourth time in August that he drove in at least three runs.

This was jus the second time in the last two months that McCutchen had more than two hits in a game. He came into the game sporting a meager .208 BA in August.

This was the fourth time in 2010 the Pirates whiffed 15 times or more. They hit double digits in Ks for the 29th time.

The Pirates pitching staff failed to walk anyone for the eighth time in 2010.

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