Having watched my share of Pirate games both this year and in year’s past, this one seemed to me to have all the hallmarks of the games that get away from the Pirates after Zach Duke served up back to back homers in the bottom of the fifth. A road game, a good opponent, Zach Duke on the mound, balls flying out of the park like crazy, Jorge de la Rosa striking out Pirates at will; none of it seemed to bear well on the Pirates’ fortunes.
And yet, they held on. Duke bore down and each of the relievers that came after him (Meek, Hanrahan, and Dotel) flirted with disaster but held the line. Garrett Jones had an RBI double and Neil Walker an insurance homer, and that was enough. After the losses over the weekend in games not too different from this one, this win feels like a nice one.
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