Jeff Locke took a strong start into the eighth inning as the Pirates defeated the Rays 6-5 to at least earn a road series victory. Locke was given a good cushion before allowing his first run of the game as the Pirates (39-38) led 4-0 after three innings. Andrew McCutchen started the scoring in the first with a RBI groundout. Cutch helped add to the lead in the third. Starling Marte and McCutchen recorded RBI singles and Neil Walker -- in his first game off of the DL -- hit a sac fly. Locke ... Read More
Volquez, Alvarez Power Pirates Past Rays
Edinson Volquez threw eight innings of one-run ball as the Pirates got back to the .500 mark with a 8-1 win over the Rays on Monday night. Volquez (5-6) experienced a little trouble in the first and second before settling down. Desmond Jennings led off the bottom of the first, moved to second on a groundout and scored on a James Loney RBI single. The Rays (31-47) threatened again in the second, but Volquez was able to get Ryan Hanigan to ground into an inning-ending double play. Volquez ... Read More
Pirates Beat Cubs 4-0 Behind Volquez’s Strong Start
Pittsburgh -- Edinson Volquez gave the Pirates a much needed quality start as the right-handed starter went seven shutout innings as the Pirates shutout the Cubs 4-0 to take the four-game series. Volquez ran into some trouble throughout his start, but came out of those innings spotless. The first problem came in the third when the Cubs (26-38) threatened with first and second with one out. He then struck out Junior Lake and Anthony Rizzo to get out of the inning. The Pirates (32-34) got on ... Read More
Pirates Use Cutch’s Strong Showing to Beat Cubs 4-2
Pittsburgh-- Andrew McCutchen continued his sizzling June leading the Pirates to a 4-2 victory over the Cubs on a rainy Wednesday night at PNC Park. McCutchen, who has a slash line of .389/.972/1.422 in nine games this month, added to those power numbers with a 2-2 night with a double, two walks, a home run, a stolen base and two RBI. The Pirates center fielder started the scoring in the first with a two run home run to the left field bleachers. Cubs left fielder Chris Coghlan climbed the ... Read More
Liriano Leaves Injured, Pirates Make Mental Mistakes in 7-3 Loss
Francisco Liriano left the game in the third inning due to "left side discomfort" and the game seemed to fall out of hand after that as the Cubs defeated the Pirates 7-3 on Gregory Polanco's debut game in the black and gold. Liriano didn't get out of the gates the way he wanted as he allowed a one out single to Junior Lake and then left a changeup up to Anthony Rizzo that he sent into the Clemente seats. After that, Liriano settled down retiring seven of eight batters before leaving the ... Read More
Pirates Power Past Cubs 6-2
Charlie Morton received an extra day of rest since his previous start and it seemed to pay off as the righty pitched seven strong innings as the Pirates got the series-opening victory over the Cubs 6-2. Morton allowed one run on six hits -- two of which didn't go past the pitchers mound-- over his seven innings of work while striking out seven. The only Cubs run came in the sixth when Anthony Rizzo singled off of the glove of a diving Jordy Mercer with two out. Starlin Castro followed with a ... Read More
Cutch Shines in National Spotlight, Bucs Win 5-3
Andrew McCutchen showed the nation why he was last years NL MVP going 3-for-4 with two doubles, a home run and a nice sliding catch on defense as the Pirates (26-30) defeated the Dodgers (30-28) 5-3 on Sunday night in front of a National ESPN audience. McCutchen started things off for the Pirates in the first hitting a two-out double off of the left field wall. Ike Davis and Russell Martin followed with walks to load the bases. Dodgers starter Zach Greinke was clearly flustered with the strike ... Read More
Cutch, Harrison Lead Bucs to 3-1 Win Over Nats
Pittsburgh-- Andrew McCutchen and Josh Harrison came up with clutch plate appearances and key defensive plays allowing the Pirates to defeat the Nationals 3-1 on Thursday night. The performances of the two outfielders helped solidify a much-needed quality start by Edinson Volquez, who went six innings allowing a run on three hits. The only blemish on Volquez's record came in the fourth inning when Ian Desmond led off the inning with a home run to right-center tying the game at one. He also ... Read More
Pirates Get to K-Rod, Beat Brewers 4-1
The Pittsburgh Pirates (17-22) evened up their series against the Milwaukee Brewers tonight, winning 4-1 behind a solid performance from SP Francisco Liriano. Bryan Morris, Tony Watson, and Mark Melancon finished off the final three innings, with Melancon racking up save number five since taking over for injured closer Jason Grilli. The Brewers (25-15) were unable to get anything going against Liriano until scoring the tying run on a Jeff Bianchi sacrifice fly in the bottom of the fifth ... Read More
Errors Cost Pirates Series Sweep
The Pirates loaded the bases with no out and the tying run on third in the ninth, but weren't able to convert as they fell to the Cardinals 6-5 on Sunday Night Baseball in front of 32,605 at PNC Park and a national TV audience looking on. A costly error in the first proved to be the deal breaker as the Pirates (16-21) were unable to dig themselves out of an early hole. They did try however, as they got to within one in the ninth off of Cardinals (19-19) closer Trevor Rosenthal after Neil ... Read More