I’m not sure if this game was closer than it needed to be, or an easier victory for the Pirates than it really should have been. For most of the game, Jeff Locke pitched really well, the Pirates left runners on base against Kyle Kendrick, and not many runs at all were scored. Locke gave up a run in the bottom of the fourth, Starling Marte hit a two-run homer in the top of the fifth, and that was it for most of the game.
Then, the Phillies brought Kendrick out for the eighth inning for some reason, even though he was at 110 pitches. Andrew McCutchen, Neil Walker, and Russell Martin all singled before Kendrick was pulled from the game. Things got out of control from there, when Gaby Sanchez hit a sac fly and then Jordy Mercer and Brent Morel hit back-to-back doubles to bring the score to 6-1. It seemed like the Pirate offense had put things on cruise control.
I thought that Clint Hurdle might have considered letting Locke pitch the eighth since he was cruisng: he struck out nine and somehow didn’t walk anyone (seriously: Jeff Locke is baffling sometimes), only allowing that one run on three hits. He’d only thrown 92 pitches total. The big lead probably convinced Hurdle to go to the bullpen, though, and that worked out the way it always seems to work out. Jared Hughes got Carlos Ruiz to strike out, but gave up a single to Mikael Franco, hit Domonic Brown, and watched Jordy Mercer botch a force out that was potentially an inning-ending double play. This created a save situation, so Tony Watson came in. Watson gave up a sac fly and a two-run triple to bring the score to 6-4. He then hit Ryan Howard, who should’ve been an automatic out for a hard-throwing lefty reliever, and finally got Marlon Byrd, the potential go-ahead run, to bounce out to end the inning. Mark Melancon pitched the ninth without incident, and so the Pirates came away with an easyish 6-4 win.
The important part of the win is that the Brewers and Braves both lost, so the same Pirate team that woke up in fourth place in the National League wild card race on Sunday morning is now in the second wild card spot and a game-and-a-half clear of its nearest competitors. This is not the first time the Pirates have had more than a game lead in the wild card race (the day before their seven-game losing streak started they held the first wild card and were 1 1/2 up on the third place Cardinals). If there was one time for the Pirates to put together a consistent two weeks of baseball without falling apart for three or four games, the time is right now.
