Bucs Beat Birds 4-1, Take Series

Jamo and John Gant exchanged walks in the first. In the second, the Bucs left J-Lup stranded after a one-out triple. Matt Carpenter homered in the third to give the Redbirds the lead, and then the Bucs, well, they Bucco'ed again. A bopped batter and two singles loaded the bases with nobody out. Joey O hit a sac fly to tie the game (actually, a pop that the Cards botched in relay) and leave runners on the corners before Cutch got himself picked off, deflating the Buc balloon. Matt Bowman took over for the Cards in the fourth and kept it quiet. A couple of fifth inning raps put Jamo in a one-out jammo but he whiffed his way out of trouble. Seung Hwan Oh took the ball and gave up a knock to Chris Bostick and a bomb to Starling to give the Bucs a 3-1 edge. Edgar Santana spun in the sixth (JT was at 95 pitches) and put up a zippo. Cecil Brett took his turn and J-Lup greeted him with a dinger.

Chris Bostick reached three times today and scored twice (photo Dave Arrigo/Pirates)

Huddy got two quick outs in the seventh, then gave up two quick walks, bringing out Dan Runzler. He walked Randal Grichuk and Clint waved in George Kontos, who got a grounder to keep the Cards at bay, shutting down what would prove their last big chance to make it a game. John Brebbia served another zip from the St Louis side. Kontos kept his mojo working in the eighth and Tyler Lyons added another goose egg. That set the stage for Felipe, who rebounded from Friday's sloppy outing with a clean ninth, including two whiffs. Raise the Jolly One again! There are six games to go and no more worries about playing the A-List against contenders. It's time to rest the weary and put some calluses on the youngsters.

Jordan banged his third homer of the campaign (photo Pittsburgh Pirates)

Notes:

• Pittsburgh had eight hits; Starling, Chris Bostick & J-Lup each had a pair of raps. They scored all four runs and drove in three on Marte & Luplow homers.
• Jamo went five IP and gave up a run on four hits with a walk and six K on 95 pitches. Five Pirates relievers tossed four innings w/o giving up a hit though they did walk four. 
• Seung Hwan Oh is 0-3 against the Pirates, giving up 10 runs in eight innings of work this year. He did earn three saves, though.
• There were 28,550 fans in the stands for today's match. The team is off tomorrow and then face the Orioles on Tuesday & Wednesday nights.
• The Pirates finished the year 8-11 against the Redbirds.
• In one small step forward, Jung Ho Kang got into the Dominican without a lawyer doing somersaults and is practicing with Aguilas Cibaenas.
• Jon Morosi tweets that a couple of old Buccos, Lloyd McClendon and Dave Clark, are potential candidates for the Tigers skipper job. Both played for the Pirates; Lloyd was Pittsburgh's hitting coach and later manager while Dave got his start coaching & managing in the Pirates system; he was also McClendon's batting doctor with the Pirates in 2001-02.