Another tight one with the Reds goes the Pirates way as the Bucs sweep behind three RBI from Jason Jaramillo and a strong outing from Paul Maholm. A 7-5 start isn’t too shabby.
It was close early on. Bronson Arroyo was perfect through three. That sound you heard from PNC in the fourth was the wheels coming off. Arroyo allowed six of the first seven hitters to reach base. Three singles, a walk and an HBP had put two runs on the board and left he bases loaded when Jaramillo delivered a bases clearing double. It was one of those drives that would likely have been caught by a good leftfielder, but Jonny Gomes – who isn’t playing because of his defensive skills – didn’t get a great jump and didn’t run a good route to the ball. It fell in just shy of the warning track in left-center and the Pirates were up five to nil. Reds fans needn’t worry – Adam Dunn wouldn’t have caught it either.
The Reds slowly chipped away at the lead. Jay Bruce homered leading off the fifth inning. A two out RBI double from Paul Janish in the 7th chased Maholm. In the 9th, Octavio Dotel struck out the side, but not before yielding a towering homer to Bruce to make the lead 5-3.
Maholm went 6-2/3 and was charged with two runs. He allowed just four hits and one walk while striking out five. Arroyo gave up just one hit independent of the fourth inning while giving up five runs in six innings. He whiffed seven.
The Good
Gotta like Maholm’s outing.
Sweep!
Being above .500.
The Bad
Ronny Cedeno committed his first error of the year. After making a tough stop in the hole, his throw to second forced Delwyn Young to come off the bag. Tough chance.
The Rest
The Bucs last 3 game winning streak was 9/30/09 to 10/2/09. Longest winning streak of 2009 was five games.
This was the fifth time that Bruce has had two or more homers in a game.
Jaramillo had knocked in more than two runs just one other time in his career (6/4/09) prior to today.
Dotel has three saves on the year. Opposing relievers have zero – because the Pirates have gotten blown out in every loss. Just like the 1960 World Series.
Attendance for the first weekend home series of 2010 was 53,814. Last year’s first weekend home series (against Atlanta) drew 51,190.
