A deep drive off the bat of Freddy Sanchez with two out and the bases loaded was snared by Lastings Milledge. Had he not caught it, the game would almost certainly have been tied up. Instead, Bucs win!
The Pirates had a comfortable lead thanks mainly to Andrew McCutchen and Ryan Doumit. Cutch had four hits, including a solo homer and two doubles, and scored three times. Doumit drove in four runs. His sac fly scoring Cutch in the first got the scoring started. His two run homer in the third was the big hit in a three run inning. The following frame he hit a run scoring double to provide the final tally for the Bucs.
The Pirates offense did all their damage off of Todd Wellemeyer. He lasted only three innings and gave up all six runs on nine hits and three walks. Paul Maholm on the other end was effective in 6-1/3 innings of toil. He walked none and allowed two runs on six hits.
But it got close in the 9th. With a 6-2 lead, Octavio Dotel was summoned. With two outs and a runner on, Pablo Sandoval singled. Following another walk, Andres Torres singled. That hit scored one and kept the bases loaded. Sanchez came up and was robbed by Milledge game over. Fireworks. Concert.
The Good
Have to be happy with the production from the first three spots. Cutch and Doumit hit first and third. Neil Walker had two hits, two runs, and RBI and a BB hitting #2.
Maholm’s ERA dropped to a season low 3.80.
The Bad
The Pirates hit into three double plays.
Andy LaRoche made an error and hit into two of those double plays.
The Rest
Former Pirate Deny Bautista pitched a scoreless two innings. He is unscored on in 10 of his 11 2010 appearances for San Francisco and is striking out better than a batter per inning.
Sanchez nearly had his second straight three hit game.
Pat Burrell made his San Fran debut and doubled in four at bats.
This was the fifth time that Cutch had at least four hits in a game. It was the seventh time he score three runs or more. He has now played 162 games in the majors. .297/.373/.479 line with a 127 OPS+. 108 runs, 39 doubles, 10 triples, 19 dingers, 71 RBI. 35 out of 44 stolen base attempts.
This was Doumit’s fifth career four RBI game.
Wellemeyer is 5-4 against the Pirates. He has dropped three of his last four decisions against them. Maholm is now 2-1 against SF.
