Charlie & the Long Ball Sink the Fish 4-2

Well, Ground Chuck was at it again. He recorded every out either by whiff (and there were only three of them) or grounder, and it was enough to take home a 4-2 win v the Marlins. In fact, if he could have hustled to first and figured out how to get Giancola Stanton out, he'd have thrown a goose egg in his first outing of the year.

The Fish scored in the first when Dee Gordon beat Charlie to the bag and eventually came around on Stanton's single. But the Bucs had a big answer in the second. The Kid and Pedro singled, and Fran Cervelli took a 2-2 fastball the opposite way over the RF wall to spot the Bucs a 3-1 lead, his first long ball in a Bucco uni.

Stanton, who has pretty much owned Morton over the years, made it close with two gone in the third, drilling a 2-1 heater that was on his hands over the Clemente Wall. The game stayed that way until the sixth, when Pedro hit his own two out solo shot, a laser to left center that withstood a review for possible fan interference. For Miami starter David Phelps, the blasts were the first two homers he had surrendered this year.

And that ended the scoring (Marte came close in the eighth, but was thrown out at home on a Walker double after taking a way wide turn at third). Old Bucco Vin Mazzaro zippo'ed the Bucs, while Tony Watson and Mark the Shark did the same to the Marlins.

Charlie Morton (photo Dave Arrigo/Pirates)

Morton went seven innings, giving up two runs on eight hits with three strikeouts and no walks, tossing 87 pitches. It seems like quite a few hits, but Chuck coaxed a pair of DP from Miami hitters and never was in any serious jams. His velocity, lacking in the spring, was back to sitting at 93. Welcome back, Ground Chuck.

Tomorrow Jeff Locke goes against rookie Jose Urena, who will be making his first MLB start.

• Josh's hitting streak ended tonight at 11 games. On the bright side, Neil Walker ended an 0-for-14 string with a second inning double and collected two hits.
• The Bucs 4-8 hitters - Starling, The Kid, Pedro, Fran and Jordy - each had two hits.
• Pittsburgh has won four in a row and are finally back at .500, with a 22-22 mark.
• Memorial Day night games aren't such a swell idea, at least by the fans. Just 20,046 made it to PNC tonight, tho Miami may have had something to do with the low draw.
• IF Dan Gamache tied an Altoona Curve franchise record with five hits, including a homer, in today's 9-4 win.