Jeff Karstens was supposed to start. He was skipped due to concerns with arm fatigue. Daniel McCutchen stepped in and pitched six scoreless innings.
Jake Westbrook plunked Chris Snyder leading off the third inning. Daniel McCutchen reached when his bunt was fielded and thrown to second by Albert Pujols, but all runners were safe. Andrew McCutchen beat out a nubber and the bases were juiced. Neil Walker missed a grand slam by thismuch and instead had a bases clearing triple. Unfortunately, he was stranded when Garrett Jones whiffed and Pedro Alvarez. The Pirates weren’t done. Jose Tabata’s infield single scored another run in the fourth.
Daniel McCutchenw as crusing. He allowed just three hits and two walks. He struck out five.
Felipe Lopez hit a solo homer off Chris Resop in the seventh. Joel Hanrahan allowed a run scoring single to Aaron Miles in the ninth. Garrett Jones hit a solo homer in the eighth.
Westbrook allowed four runs on six hits in six innings. He also struck out five.
The Good
Winning three of four.
Ryan Doumit and Ronny Cedeno each had two hits.
Walker drove in three runs for the second straight game.
The Bad
The bullpen gave up two runs in three innings.
The Rest
Westbrook had not faced the Pirates since 2003. He had no decisions and had not started against them headed into this game. McCutchen is now 1-1 against St. Louis.
Bucs remain two games behind Baltimore for the worst record in baseball.
Five of Garrett Jones’ last seven homers have come with the bases empty.
