The Pirates began the second half of the 2014 season just a game and a half behind the Brewers for first place in the NL Central. By opening the second half against the Rockies, the Pirates entered a stretch in which they play 16 straight games against NL West teams and 32 straight games against teams not in the NL Central.
In all three games against the Rockies at PNC Park, the Pirates trailed in the 6th inning or later and managed to come back in all three and open the second half with a sweep. Travis Snider came through with a pinch-hit two-run double past the diving right fielder in the 8th to tie the game, and Josh Harrison‘s sacrifice fly brought home the eventual winning-run. Jordy Mercer was the hero on Saturday night with an 11th inning walkoff hit. And after falling behind 3-0 early because of a couple of home runs, Jeff Locke settled in to toss 6 solid innings. Chris Stewart doubled twice, with the second bringing home the tying-run in the 6th. Cutch’s frozen rope single to center in the 7th put the Bucs on top, and Neil Walker‘s solo shot to dead center padded the lead in the 5-3 sweep.
The Dodgers came to town for three games and after easily taking the first matchup, lost the next two. The Pirates were able to catch a break by avoiding facing Kershaw or Greinke, and also not having to worry about Ramirez or Puig in the lineup. On Tuesday, the Bucs scored 8 runs after the 6th inning in what turned out to be a high-scoring affair. Neil Walker and Gregory Polanco each drove in three runs, and Vance Worley earned the win despite giving up three earned runs and falling victim to some poor defense. Francisco Liriano spun a gem as the Bucs jumped out to an early 5-0 lead and never looked back on Wednesday. Harrison doubled home a couple runs and Travis Snider sent one into the last row of the right field seats to knock Dan Haren out of the game early. Sweep and then taking two out of three from a team that spends a bajillion dollars – not a bad homestand.
A long West Coast roadtrip began on Friday with a series in Colorado to face the same Rockies team that the Bucs swept just a week earlier. Colorado pitchers held the Bucs scoreless until the 9th on both Friday and Saturday, with the Rockies taking both games by the score of 8-1. Sunday’s contest took 4 hours, but the Pirates were able to salvage a game with a 7-5 victory. Colorado held the lead for much of the game until Travis Snider launched a two-run bomb that tied the game. Ike Davis doubled home the go-ahead run, which was negated by a Nolan Arenado home run. In the 8th, back-to-back homers by Josh Harrison and Gregory Polanco made it 7-5.
GIF of the week goes to J-Hay miraculously getting out of another rundown, exactly a month after he escaped the Mets’ rundown at PNC Park.
Pic of the week also goes to Harrison, who silenced some haters behind the dugout after his go-ahead home run.
Coming up this week, the Pirates will stay out west to play the Giants and Diamondbacks. The trade deadline is also this week, so we’ll see what Neal Huntington has up his sleeve this time.
Go Bucs
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