This game turned on a quick sequence in that went like this: Andrew McCutchen single, Gaby Sanchez single on the next pitch, Russell Martin RBI single two pitches later, Pedro Alvarez three-run homer two pitches after that. That turned a frustrating 1-0 Phillies lead into a 4-1 PIrate lead. That gave the second half of the game a very different tone.
Specifically, it was the exact opposite of the tone from Tuesday night's loss. That game was all about the Pirates trying to win and failing. Wednesday's game was all about the Pirates trying to give that 4-1 lead back, but never quite being able to do so. Jeff Locke got into trouble in the top of the sixth and Justin Wilson couldn't bail him out, so the Phillies closed to 4-3. The Pirates immediately tallied two more runs on a Russell Martin double and a wild pitch. In the ninth, Domonic Brown hit a two-run homer off of the suddenly scuffling Jason Grilli, but that only closed the lead to one run and Grilli escaped the inning with a strikeout of Delmon Young four pitches later.
Wins are wins, as they say, and after a pretty frustrating loss on Tuesday, the Pirates came up with some big hits and pushed a bunch of runs across and won. Maybe they had to hold on for dear life to do so, but at the end of the day the standings say "52-31" next to the Pirates and "2 GB" next to the Cardinals. For tonight, that's good enough.
