For a team that’s been dropping out of seemingly close games and having them blown open as if by a grenade, last night was pretty encouraging in some regards. After taking an early lead on Matt Cain, things slowly slipped away as Paul Maholm’s pitch count rose, leaving the bullpen on the mound before the sixth inning was over (again). Cain and Sergio Romo had been shutting the offense down, but they managed to pull themselves together not just for a go-ahead run in the eighth, but two big insurance runs in the ninth (on two crushed balls, a homer by Andy LaRoche and a triple by Ryan Church) gave Octavio Dotel enough space to pull in what’s become a Pirate closer tradition; enter with a three-run lead, give up two quick runs, barely manage the save.
So that part of last night was nice. What wasn’t nice was the ease with which Cain sliced through the Pirates lineup after the third (eight pitches in the fourth, six in the fifth, nine in the sixth) and Maholm needing 97 pitches to get through 5+. It wasn’t a great game, but it was much better than the four the team has been blown out of the water on to this point.
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