Bucs Hold Off Rangers 5-4 Behind Melky, Gregory, Starling & Bullpen By Committee

Steven Brault got after them in the first, K'ing a pair of Rangers in a clean frame. Fraze lined an at 'em ball to left, Starling singled and was thrown out trying to take two; he had it if he had went hard out of the box. Gregory followed with a rap and then was caught stealing (on a challenge; he was called safe but the tag did get him), so Adrian Sampson dodged an early rumble. A leadoff double, bunt and walk put Rangers on the corners in the second, but a 5-4-3 DP calmed the waters. J-Bell opened with a two-bagger and a grounder moved him along, where he was stranded after a Redbeard pop and a Cervy liner snagged at the wall by a leaping Hunter Pence. Steven cruised through the third; he's filling up the bottom of the plate where ump Hunter Wendelstedt is giving strikes. Pittsburgh used some two-out lightning to finally score when Fraze tripled to right and came in on Starling's knock up the middle. Gregory fired a bullet to right that found Pence's glove; not a lot of ball luck going on for Pittsburgh so far; three of their nine outs had exit velos of 100+ MPH.

Melky has been a marvel so far (photo Elsa/Getty)

Brault made a nice play to get the first out of the fourth, followed by a walk. Pence homered off a 2-2 beachball; there goes the lead. Another walk with two outs reached second on a passed ball but went no further. J-Bell walked to start the Bucs, and Fran wore a pitch two outs later. K-Man walked in maybe a work-around, and Clint pulled the trigger early and sent up Melky to hit for Steven. It paid off; Melky doubled in a pair to retake the lead. The BABIP jinx continued; Fraze's hot shot to second was nicely flagged down by Rougned Odor to save another run or two. Michael Feliz took the hill in the fifth; the pitcher reached on Michael's throwing error, but nothing came of it. The Pirates added on when Starling was HBP and Gregory went long to right center for his first dinger of the year. Frankie got the sixth, with JHK entering the game in a double switch. The Rangers opened with a double and walk. A two-out tapper moved them up and a walk loaded 'em, but Gregory corralled a fly at the wall in right to escape disaster by a hair. Jesse Chavez took the hill and walked Cervy, followed by a K-Man rap. Three garden variety outs finished the frame quietly.

Dovy Neverauskas got the seventh. After an out, a walk and knock brought Tyler Lyons on. He got a K, then Pence the Pest doubled home the duo to make it a one-run game before Lyons tamed Texas. Jose Leclerc did his job with a shutdown inning. Kyle Crick got the call in the eighth and struggled with command, but got through it - a walk was erased on a 6-4-3 DP and a bopped batter/steal was negated by an inning-ending whiff on a gift call by Engelstedt. Leclerc walked Cervy and he stole second, but no insurance runs were added. Felipe Vazquez took the bump in the ninth and did what he does, tonight with no drama, and you can raise the Roger one more time.

The Nightmare should be cheesin' after tonight... (photo Dave Arrigo/Pirates)

Gotta admit that the Bucco-Rangers series may not qualify as textbook baseball, but it sure has been entertaining. Hopefully the Pirates can get some guys back; the roster right now can't sustain short starts (or extra innings), either by the bullpen or with the short bench. It'll be an interesting stretch - the Bucs have 40 games in 41 days, a brutal slate even with all hands on deck and more so when there's a scramble for warm bodies.

Notes:

• It was like ole days -  Starling and Gregory each had a pair of knocks. The Rangers had five hits; Pence had three of them.
• The Pirates walked seven batters. Not to be outdone, Texas issued five free passes and bopped three guys; we'll see if there's any carryover tomorrow afternoon.
• There were just 13,032 at the yard tonight on a beautiful night for baseball.
• Corey Dickerson still isn't throwing, so his return looks to be a while down the road.