Hey, just like Sunday deja vu. The Bucs have a one run lead in the eighth, and the back-enders come on to close it...except they give up game tying homers. Then Dewey steps up, launches one into the night sky, and it's a Pirate victory.
Tonight, Paul Maholm and Mike Leake weren't exactly dazzling, but they were effective trading zeroes into the eighth inning. Aki Iwamura led off with a triple - well, a can of corn that centerfielder Drew Stubbs apparently lost in the moonlight - and brand spanking new call up Neil Walker doubled him home for a 1-0 lead.
It took ten hits for the Pirates to score a run; two double plays, a caught stealing and a pick off at second tend to cut down your scoring chances. More amazingly, the Bucs 3-4-6 hitters, Andrew McCutchen, Garrett Jones, and lastings Milledge, all had two hits, but somehow couldn't bunch a couple of them together.
The Reds, held to six hits over seven innings by Maholm, were now looking down the barrel of Joel Hanrahan's right arm. And hey, he struck out two of three men he faced. But one swing by Bucco killer Brandon Phillips tied it when he blasted a heater delivered down Broadway an estimated 433 feet into the bullpen.
Ryan Church and Milledge went down quietly in the final frame, but Ryan Doumit stepped out of his telephone booth, Nick Masset tugged on his cape, and Dewey responded by bombing a ball into right to give the Pirates a 2-1 lead. Octavio Dotel breezed through the ninth, and the Dewey dinger stood up.
Ross Ohlendorf will go against Bronson Arroyo in the Saturday night get together.
-- Andy LaRoche could be back in a couple of days or so, but there's no estimate on Steve Pearce. They have to wait for the swelling of his sprained ankle to go down before they can evaluate him.
-- The Pirates "Million Dollar Arms" from India, Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel, attended a reception at the White House on Monday hosted by President Obama in celebration of the White House's Heritage Month. The pitchers were among 150 luminaries, diplomats and celebrities from Asia and the Pacific Islands to attend.
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