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Game 27 Recap: Iannetta’s Bomb Sinks Bucs

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Maholm was roughed up in the second.

It might be a good sign for Colorado that some of their slumping hitters contributed to a four run outburst in the second inning. What certainly isn’t a good sign for the Pirates is that their offense continues to be anemic.

The game started solidly. Andrew McCutchen drove a pitch from Jason Hammel over the fence for a quick 1-0 lead. But that would be the only run for the Pirates. Hammel would scatter five singles and two walks over the next six frames to hold the Pirates to the single tally. The Pirates hit into double plays in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings.

Paul Maholm also went seven innings and allowed Colorado to score in only one of them. Unfortunately they scored four times. That happened in the second frame. Carlos Gonzalez (hitting .216 coming into the game) doubled off the all in left, over the head of Matt Diaz who had replaced Jose Tabata in the field. Tabata left the game with tightness in his leg after his at bat in the first inning. (According to the Post-Gazette, Tabata is likely to be held out of action today.) Jose Lopez (hitting .152 coming into the game) bunted his way on. Seth Smith squibbed one and reached first, with Gonzalez scoring on the play. Chris Iannetta, hitting just .173 coming into the game, homered deep to center to make it 4-0. With the bases empty, Maholm retired the next three hitters and then gave up just two more hits over the next five innings.

Maholm was the loser. His seven innings yielded four runs on seven hits and three walks. He struck out three. Recently recalled Daniel Moskos made his Major League debut and tossed a scoreless eighth.

Hammel went seven and gave up the one run on six hits and one walk. He struck out four. Huston Street pitched a scoreless ninth for the save.

The Good
Neil Walker had a pair of singles to push his batting average back over .300. McCutchen added a single for a two hit game.

I’ll take that outing from Maholm.

Welcome Daniel Moskos.

The Bad
Seven hits and one run.

Hitting into three double plays.

The Rest
Gonzalez had two hits and had not had a multi-hit game since April 17th.

Iannetta came into the game with just one hit in his last 17 at bats. He had no RBIs during that slump. He was just 1-9 in 2010 against Pittsburgh.

Maholm is 1-8 against Colorado on his career. Hammel is 3-1 against the Pirates in four career starts and one relief appearance.

The Pirates are 12-15 through 27 games. They need to go 70-64 the rest of the way to finish above .500. Last year’s team was also 12-15 after 27 games. In 2009 the club was also 12-15 through 27 games.

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