Cole & The Kid Lead Bucs To 5-2 Victory, Series Now Even

The tarp sat all rolled up, and hopefully that's where it will remain for the rest of the series as Gerrit Cole took the hill looking to even the Redbird series. He worked a zippo first, giving up an opposite field, two-out double to Jhonny Peralta and stranding him.

The Bucs drew first blood. Gregory K'ed without a swing and without seeing a strike; bad at-bat for ump Brian O'Nora at home. The Kid singled off Peralta's glove and Cutch singled up the middle. Lance Lynn threw a 96 MPH heater past JHK for the second out, but Jordy came up big with a double to plate Walker. Pedro took another badly called strike and ended up fishing for a swinging K; hard to hit when the zone is extended; let's hope O'Nora settles in.

Cole worked a 1-2-3 second; ditto for Lynn. Tommy Pham opened the third with a double to right. A failed bunt made no diff; Matt Carpenter drilled a 2-0 slider over the wall in center to make it 2-1 Redbirds. Ishy misplayed a two-out, two-strike fly into a single, especially frustrating because twice Cole didn't get the calls that Lynn did. He escaped with a 4-3.

Gregory opened with a walk, seeing the same pitches he did in the first, so maybe O'Nora is getting into the flow now. The Kid singled, and Cutch got ahead 3-0. He swung through a couple of heaters before lifting a fly to center to move El Coffee to third. JHK also got up 3-0 and took what looked a lot klike ball four, but the automatic 3-0 strike  was called. That was the Bucs first break; Kang lined the next pitch to left to tie the game.

The Kid has come a long way in ten years...

Jordy banged one to short that should have been two, but it hit Walker in the back foot. Matheny pleaded for the DP call, didn't get it, and Pedro made it hurt with a single to left center; Pham cut it off with a dive to keep it from the wall, saving one run as Ishikawa popped out, but the Bucs took the lead 3-2 with a couple of nods from the baseball gods.

The Cards went down in order in the fourth after Molina jogged to first trying to draw a HBP; didn't work. Stew led off with an infield single and got to third on a bunt and bouncer. He trotted home ahead of The Kid, who drove a 3-1 fastball at the numbers over the Infiniti sign for his third hit and a 5-2 Bucco lead. Pham singled to lead off the fifth, but was erased 4-6-3. Carpenter drew a walk before Cole closed it out. Carlos Villanueva took the ball, and JVK lined a single to left. It was short lived as a strike 'em out, throw 'em out followed, with Kang trying to dive back to first to no avail. Pedro grounded into the shift, and on to the sixth.

Cole gave up a single, but no damage to the scoreboard. He's at 90+ pitches and should have another frame left in him. The Pirates stranded a pair of walks. Gerrit labored some in the seventh, but got through it, leaving a Redbird at third as his night ended after 108 pitches. Miguel Socolovich took the ball and worked a quiet inning.

Tony Watson answered the phone in the eighth and had a rocking chair frame, and the Bucs failed to add on. That meant it was Shark time. After a one-out single, Dann Johnson battled Melancon for a dozen pitches before flying out to the track *whew* in right. It only took four more pitches to phan Pham, and the Jolly Roger was blowin' in the wind tonight.

It's automatic for Gerrit - seven innings, two runs, and another win. The Buc bats held up their end, with AJ and John Lackey locking horns tomorrow night.

• Cutch hit the first pitch he saw for a single; his hitting streak is now at 17 games
• Stew has a six game hitting streak, not at all bad for a bench guy.
• Gerrit's 13 wins lead the majors, as do Mark the Shark's 29 saves. mark set the Bucco franchise mark tonight with his 26th straight save, breaking Joel Hanrahan's mark. he also tied Jason Grilli, the closer he replaced, for the most pre-ASG saves.
• Tonight's attendance of 36,825 was the 10th sellout of the season.
• The Pirates signed two more draftees: 19th-round LHP Ike Schlabach (GCL Pirates) and 39th-round RHP Tate Scioneaux (Morgantown Black Bears).