Bucs take 3 of 4 from Nats: Nice turnaround

After stumbling out of the All Star break by losing 5 of their first 6 games, the Pittsburgh Pirates bounced back in a nice way by taking 3  of 4 games from the NL East leading Washington Nationals at PNC Park. The Bucs now have a record of 57-41 and are 6 games back of the Cards in the NL Central standings.

I have already recapped Thursday nights game here http://www.yinzyap.com/pirates-7-nats-3-that-was-nice/.

On Friday night, the Bucs got out to an early lead in the bottom of the 2nd when Pedro Alvarez greeted Max Scherzer with a mammoth 2 run blast to Right Field, giving Pittsburgh a 2-0 lead. That lead would hold until the 4th inning when Jeff Locke faltered, allowing for Washington to put up a 4 spot, giving the Nats a 4-2 lead. The game really picked up in the 5th. After battling Max Scherzer for 11 pitches, Gregory Polanco sent pitch number 12 over the Clemente Wall to tie the game at 4.

The Bucs would take the lead one batter later when Neil Walker took Scherzer deep, making it 5-4 Pirates. Washington would tie things up in the top of the 6th on a solo shot by Ian Desmond off of Vance Worley. Pittsburgh would take the upper hand in the bottom half of the inning when Brent Morel doubled, driving home Francisco Cervelli for the go-ahead run. Gregory Polanco would proceed to drive Morel home with a single, giving the Bucs some breathing room and a 7-5 lead.

Jared Hughes, Tony Watson and Mark Melancon would hold the Nats over the next 3 innings, with Melancon picking up his 31st save. Vance Worley got the win out of relief to improve to 4-5.

Saturday night was one to forget for Pirate players and fans. AJ Burnett was not sharp, allowing 5 earned runs over 5.2 innings. The Bucs tried to rally in the 6th, scoring 3 runs to cut into a 5-0 deficit, but it was not enough. The Nats would add 4 insurance runs over the next 3 innings, featuring homeruns by Michael Taylor and Ian Desmond(again), giving them a 9-3 victory. Burnett fell to 8-4 on the year with the loss.

On Sunday, Gerrit Cole pitched 7.2 innings of 1 run ball, leading the Pirates to a 3-1 win. Neil Walker homered and Andrew McCutchen and Gregory Polanco each had RBI singles, giving Cole all the offense he would need. Cole was also helped out defensively, with Gregory Polanco and Sean Rodriguez each robbing Bryce Harper of hits. Mark Melancon picked up his 30th consecutive save and 32nd overall, and Cole picked up his 14th win, improving to 14-4 on the year.

Overall, this series was just what the Bucs needed after a rough road trip. Sadly, this home stand was brief, and the Pirates will be starting a 3 game series with the Twins in Minnesota starting Tuesday night at Target Field. Charlie Morton will take the hill on Tuesday in an effort  to keep the Bucs rolling. The Twins are a good baseball team and have surprised a lot of people by playing solid ball in the AL Central. This will be another test on the Pirates road to the postseason, and as always, it will be interesting to see how it plays out.