Pirates defeat Reds to salvage final game of weekend series in Cincinnati

In his first outing since being shut-down for the All-Star game thanks to tightness in his lower back, Pirates starter Jeff Locke pitched yet another solid game on Sunday, going six innings and allowing one hit, while walking four and striking out six batters as Pittsburgh salvaged the final game of the weekend series with a 3-2 victory over the Reds after dropping the first two in Cincinnati's Great American Ballpark.

Despite another pedestrian performance by the Pirates' chronically struggling offense, Locke (9-2) actually managed to pick up the win, thanks to some rare clutch-hits. Pittsburgh's hitters came into Sunday afternoon's game one for their last 26 with runners in scoring position. However, in the top of the seventh inning, in a 1-1 tie, Jordy Mercer singled to drive in Michael Mckenry with the go-ahead run. Later in the inning, Jose Tabata drove in the eventual winning run by singling home Mercer to give the Pirates a 3-1 lead.

All-in-all, Pittsburgh only tallied seven base-hits on the day, but when two of those hits are of the timely variety, that can make a world of difference for a team with the kind of pitching the Pirates have.

There's no question the Pirates have been scuffling a bit lately (just 6-9 since the nine game winning streak), but as I've said before, baseball teams scuffle over the course of a 162 game season, but good baseball teams know how to scuffle and tread water while they wait to get hot again. Salvaging one win in Cincinnati was important because, not only did it prevent the Reds from gaining three games in the NL Central/Wild Card standings, it was only the third game of a pretty long 10-game road-swing, and in my opinion, the longer a team goes without picking up its first win on a road trip, the greater chance that road trip has of becoming a disaster.

The Pirates now head to Washington for a four game series against the Nationals, a team that's 11.5 games back of Pittsburgh in the wild card hunt. Taking three of four would be nice, but  this time of year (yes, it's only July 21st, but it's getting pretty late), just splitting the series would be beneficial as it would prevent the Nationals from gaining any real traction in the standings.

After the Nationals, Pittsburgh finishes off the road-trip with three games against the Marlins, a team that's sporting the second worst record in baseball.

The Pirates have been scuffling, but if they can do some damage over the next seven games, they can turn that weary scuffle into a confident shuffle.

Pirates win, 4-2, in Wednesday matinee in Seattle, take seven of nine on road trip

A week ago, Pirates fans were feeling kind of bummed after closer Jason Grilli gave up a tying home run to Jay Bruce in the bottom of the ninth inning in a game Pittsburgh would go on to lose, 2-1, to the Reds in 13 innings.

For a team that has suffered two consecutive monumental collapses to end the last two seasons, any kind of heartbreaking loss has to shake the confidence of the fan base, even just a little.

Fortunately, the players shook off the loss and came back the following afternoon and won, 5-3, before heading to Anaheim where they proceeded to sweep the Angels in a three game weekend series.

The Pirates closed out their nine game trip by winning two games in Seattle against the struggling Mariners.

Like any good team, the Pirates went right to work, Tuesday night, clubbing five home runs in a 9-4 thrashing to improve to 17 games above .500 for the first time since 1992.

If ever there was a day for a let-down, it was a Wednesday matinee against Mariners' ace, Felix Hernandez.

Hernandez was his usual dominant self against Pittsburgh, giving up two earned runs and striking out 11 in seven innings. However, Jeanmar Gomez, making his first start since returning from the disabled last, went five innings, only giving up a run. And after the Mariners tied the game in the bottom of the sixth inning reliever Justin Wilson, the rest of the Pirates impressive bullpen shut things down from there.

In the top of the ninth inning, shortstop Jordy Mercer hit a two out single to give the Pirates a 3-2 lead. Pittsburgh would add an insurance run later in the inning on a wild pitch to make the final score, 4-2.

Pittsburgh went 7-2 on the nine game road-swing, winning the last six in a row, and is now 3.5 games up on the Reds in the NL Central, thanks to Cincinnati's second straight loss to the A's, Wednesday afternoon, and to within a half game of St. Louis.

The win also moves the Pirates nine games up in the National League Wild Card standings, heading into Wednesday night's action.