The Pirates got out to an early lead in this one (like I requested) and they put people on base and hit the ball over the fence in this one (like I requested), but this was hardly an easy or ideal win for the Pirates as AJ Burnett struggled quite a bit in his 6 2/3 innings and Clint Hurdle had another slow hook. All of that being said, I thought there were a few things to like in this afternoon’s Pirate win (beyond the fact that it was a win and wins are good when you’re losing your grasp on a playoff spot).
The Pirates needed a win today and they came out firing with Garrett Jones’s three-run first inning homer. They gave that lead back pretty quickly and could’ve folded up and mailed things in after Hanley Ramirez’s homer put the Dodgers ahead 4-3, but instead they went out and tied the game up and then got the lead back an inning later with Jones’s second three-run homer and Pedro Alvarez’s solo shot. Then Burnett struggled to get out of the seventh and the Dodgers clawed back to 8-6, and the Pirates tossed two more up on the board to put it out of reach for good. In short, they had an answer with the bats every time the pitching staff slipped up on a day when the offense needed to have an answer. The Dodgers pulled a ton of weird shenanigans with home plate umpire Angel Campos, but the Pirates bludgeoned the ball into oblivion against a bad starter (Joe Blanton) and a bad reliever (Jamey Wright) and ended a disappointing homestand on a high note.
One win isn’t worth a whole ton without the context of some more wins to back it up, but the Pirates really needed this win today and thanks to Garrett Jones, they got it.
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