Josh Harrison move on over.
It’s time for another Pirate to have an amazing moment and steal your thunder, and with it, earn the Pittsburgh Sporting News Player of the Week.
This week the winner is Pirates catcher, Russell Martin.
“Super Russ” as he is known by teammates and fans alike, had one of the biggest hits of the season, a three-run home run in the bottom of the eighth inning off of the Brewers reliever Jonathan Broxton to give the Pirates an eventual 3-2 win.
In a contest many were calling the greatest regular season game in PNC Park history (sorry Brian Giles), Martin’s heroics essentially put to rest any hopes of the Brewers catching the Pirates for one of the NL Wild Card spots.
Any remnants of hope for Milwaukee to get back into the race by winning Sunday in the series rubber match were once again squashed by Martin, as his RBI single in the bottom of the 7th gave the Pirates a 1-0 lead. It would be the game-winning RBI, as the Pirates coupled Martin’s big hit with a fabulous pitching effort by Vance Worley to get the victory and the series win.
Martin and the Pirates are now tied for the Wild Card lead with the San Francisco Giants, and hold the tie-breaker due to winning the head-to-head series during the regular season. The Pirates are only 2.5 games out of first place, and with seven games to go, will try and catch the Cardinals for the first division title since 1992.
