Bucs Pull Out 1-0 Win In the Wee Wee Hours

Well, the game was supposed to start at 7:05, then 7:30, and finally kicked off at 8:31. Dang Arts Festival! Of course, it went extra innings, too. But all's well that ends well, and it ended well; the Bucs took a 1-0 win, their first extra-inning, walk-off win (they were 0-for in both categories before last night's game) of the year.

After it eventually started; Jeff Locke was up to his old tricks, stranding a pair as Cutch corralled the third out on a sweet running catch followed by a wall kiss. But it wasn't an omen; pitching, or more correctly scoring, wouldn't be the issue. Locke allowed six hits in his first three innings then ran off a string of three hitless innings and Kevin Correia matched him with 5-1/3 zippo frames.

Oh, there were chance galore; the clubs ended up 1-for-19 with RISP and stranded 30! runners. The gloves saved the Bucs this morning (the game ended after 1AM). Besides Cutch's gem, Gregory Polanco crashed into the right field fencing in the sixth, knocking the Cincy plate off the scoreboard but hanging on to the ball to save a probable run. And Josh made a sweet barehand grab and toss to save a score in the 11th.

The Bucs, for their part, left the bases loaded with two outs twice. In the eighth, Jordy got ahead 3-0 but ended up whiffing; in the 10th, Corey Hart also went down on strikes in the same situation. Finally Chris Stewart led off the 13th with a pinch hit infield single, went to second on a Polanco bouncer to first and slid home on Starling Marte's single up the middle.

Stew uses his wheels to pull out the Bucco win (photo Dave Arrigo/Pirates)

Each side used seven pitchers (Vanimal was the only Bucco reliever not used), and Antonio Bastardo's 1-2-3 13th inning earned him his first Pirate win. The Phils had two runners aboard six times and the Bucs five times without drawing blood. In fact, the fifth was the only clean inning of the 13 played. It was about as unlikely a pitching duel as you'll ever see.

Well, let's hope the Bucs start turning those hits into runs as Gerrit Cole takes on Sean O'Sullivan tonight.

• One reason runs were tough to come by: Gregory, Cutch and The Kid went 1-for-19 for the night at the top half of the order.
• The win was Clint Hurdle's 900th as a MLB skipper. Other active members of the 900+ win society are the Giants' Bruce Bochy, the Angels' Mike Scioscia, the Orioles' Buck Showalter and the Indians' Terry Francona.
• Friday was the first time the Pirates have won a shutout at home in a game of at 13 innings+ in more than 100 years. Their last such game was Aug. 29, 1914 against the Dodgers. (Al Mamaux got the win, also 1-0 in 13 innings, with Hans Wagner scoring the contest's only run. It was the first game of a twin bill)
• The Pirates haves signed RHP JT Brubaker (6th round - Akron), RHP Seth McGarry (8th - Florida Atlantic) and RHP Bret Helton (9th - Utah). Brubaker & Helton were assigned to Low Class A Morgantown, while McGarry was sent to the rookie league GCL. MLB.com's Adam Berry tweetied that a source says Helton agreed to a $150,000 bonus, right about at slot value of $157,600.
• LHP Dan Moskos, 29, was suspended for 50 games by MLB after a second positive test result for a drug of abuse. The former #1 pick of the Bucs in 2007 was in the Dodger organization to start the year but was released in May and is currently a free agent.