Things did not look good for the Pirates early on, as Erik Bedard allowed a Bryce Harper triple in the first (he later scored) and an Ian Desmond HR in the third. Gio Gonzalez was breezing through the Bucco lineup, as everyone expected he would.

Suddenly, Yamaico Navarro worked a walk and Rod Barajas singled to put men at the corners in the fifth with no outs. The Pirates were able to convert that into one run when Josh Harrison singled, but couldn’t get any more (Clint Barmes struck out,  Bedard failed miserably on a bunt attempt, and Jose Tabata bounced out). The Nats hung on to the lead, 2-1.

Bedard seemed to be rolling at that point after a bit of a shaky start. He had retired 11 Nats in a row after striking out Harper and Ryan Zimmerman to start the sixth. Then he got ahead of Adam LaRoche, but grooved a mistake fastball right over the heart that ended up in the seats seconds later. 4-2. Before you could muster a grumble about LaRoche killing the Bucs again, another former Pirate sent one to the stands (Xavier Nady, despite hitting just .147). Bedard was on the verge of a solid start, but two bad mistakes at the tail end of his outing turned it into a very mediocre night. At least he didn’t hurt himself.

Anyway, the Pirates seemed doomed at that point with their offense, but Harrison again got them back in the game. This time it was via a shocking long ball (he CRUSHED it) that drove in Barajas, pulling the Bucs within one again in the seventh.

Evan Meek, fresh off his call-up, came on for the bottom of the inning. Questionable decision, but I can’t quibble with him starting the inning. The pen had been used heavily of late, the Bucs were still down, and it was only the seventh. Meek looked OK to start the inning–even though he hit a batter, his stuff looked good and he got a nice strikeout of Desmond. With two outs, though, he walked two in a row (although he was probably squeezed a bit on the second one). LaRoche was next, and the former Pirate-turned-current-Pirate-killer laced one down the line for a bases clearing double.

After the two walks, leaving Meek in was definitely questionable, and you could argue that it may have cost the Pirates the game. Why not bring in Tony Watson (or even a better righty) to face LaRoche, who was swinging a hot bat? Nobody was even warming up at that point.

The Bucs ended up scoring once more on the night (via a Casey McGehee sac fly), but the new four-run deficit was far too much to overcome. The Bucs were outplayed tonight, but Clint Hurdle’s late game management didn’t make much sense to me. He also failed to use Garrett Jones as a pinch-hitter, even though he found a time to use Nate McLouth (who was the tying run at that point) against a lefty and let the awful Barmes hit with a man on in the ninth.

Nats 7, Pirates 3 / Box / 2012 Record: 17-20 / Next: Thursday, at Nationals, 7:05

MVP: Harrison (+.185) / LVP: Bedard (-.272) / Key play: LaRoche’s double

©2012 Raise the Jolly Roger. All Rights Reserved.

©2012 Raise the Jolly Roger. All Rights Reserved.

7:05 PM EST—Nationals Park, Washington

Here is the MLB.com Gameday

TV: ROOT Sports

The Bucs are in Washington for another two-game set against an NL East opponent. Despite that series loss at PNC last week, the Nats are still playing (most pitching) very well and will present the Bucs with another tough task. The good news (for the Pirates) is that the Washington lineup has been decimated by injuries, so their offense isn’t very intimidating.

News:

Evan Meek was recalled from AAA this afternoon, and Alex Presley was sent to Indianapolis. Presley’s been in a massive slump, but I think this is just a temporary move to give the Bucs an extra bullpen arm for the next few days. The ‘pen has been worked pretty hard lately, and Brad Lincoln won’t be available for another day or so because he started on Monday.

Tonight’s starters…

Erik Bedard (2-4, 2.57) vs. Gio Gonzalez (4-1, 1.94)

Bedard is making his return to the mound after departing in the second inning last week with back spasms. That was also against the Nats, so hopefully he’ll get to face them for real this time. Everyone will be watching Erik closely with hopes that he doesn’t show any signs of a more serious injury. If he’s good to go, there’s no reason to think he won’t pitch well—he was at his best before the injury.

Gonzalez is just another top-of-the-line starter for the Nats. After coming over from Oakland in a trade in the offseason, Gonzalez has been lights-out for his new club. He currently leads the NL with a ridiculous 29.8% strikeout rate. He has to be salivating at the opportunity to face the much-maligned, strikeout-happy Pirate offense.

Nats vs. Bedard:

Pirates vs. Gonzalez:

©2012 Raise the Jolly Roger. All Rights Reserved.

Correia had an ugly outing, and the questions about his future in the rotation have already started (especially with Brad Lincoln‘s strong outing on Monday). We’ll see what will happen next time his turn comes around, but Correia struggled mightily this time out. The Marlins scored in the first via a leadoff walk and a double, then tacked on a five-spot in the fourth. Kevin allowed eight hits, an uncharacteristic four walks, and generally seemed all out-of-sorts.

The Pirate offense struck for a run in the first, then went quiet afterwards (sound familiar?). Andrew McCutchen worked a walk and scored after singles by Pedro Alvarez and Garrett Jones, but the Bucs only managed four more hits on the night against Josh Johnson, who picked up his first win in over a year. One of those hits was a homer by Michael McKenry, but it came in the seventh when the game was well out of hand.

On the bright side, the bullpen pitched 4.1 scoreless innings courtesy of Chris Resop, Tony Watson, and Jared Hughes. That was pretty much the only positive on the night for the Bucs.

Marlins 6, Pirates 2 / Box / 2012 Record: 17-19 / Next: Wednesday, at Nationals, 7:05

MVP: Jones (+.082) / LVP: Correia (-.373) / Key play: Buck’s single in the fourth

©2012 Raise the Jolly Roger. All Rights Reserved.

©2012 Raise the Jolly Roger. All Rights Reserved.

7:10 PM EST—Marlins Park, Miami

Here is the MLB.com Gameday

TV: ROOT Sports

Tonight has the potential to be a big night for the Bucs, as a win would give them four in a row and would put them back at the .500 mark. Obviously it’s still incredibly early and there’s a long way to go, but it would be nice to see them put together a win streak and hover above .500 for a while.

Tonight’s starters:

Kevin Correia (1-3, 3.47), vs. Josh Johnson (0-3, 5.87)

 Correia was better in his last start, but allowed two long balls that did him in. He’s still not striking anybody out, but has been able to go deep into the game even when he’s not pitching particularly well.  After Brad Lincoln’s strong outing yesterday, Kevin might be feeling a little more pressure to pitch well to stay in the current rotation mix.

Johnson is supposed to be Miami’s ace, but he has struggled early on this year.  The Pirates might be just what he needs to get back on track – he’s 2-0 with a 1.64 ERA against the Bucs. The Pirates were able to overcome Anibal Sanchez and his similar numbers against them last night, though, so who knows?

Marlins vs. Correia:

Pirates vs. Johnson:

©2012 Raise the Jolly Roger. All Rights Reserved.

Brad Lincoln did an excellent job in his spot start, and certainly made a case for more opportunities. He’ll probably head back to the bullpen until there’s another injury, but that’s no fault of his own. Brad allowed a monster home run to Hanley Ramirez in the first (allowing us to see the monstrosity beyond the CF wall in Marlins Park go into action), but locked the Fish down after that. He allowed just four hits and one walk, and generally seemed very much in control. Lincoln departed after six innings and 80 pitches – if he hadn’t been throwing out of the bullpen all year, he certainly could have gone more.

The Pirate offense didn’t light things up against Anibal Sanchez, but did enough to get the job done. Jose Tabata led off the game with a double and the Bucs were able to get him home with two flyouts. In the second, Rod Barajas jacked a homer for his second bomb of the year. Rod’s actually been swinging the bat much better this week, so maybe he’s starting to come around.

The Fish tied the game off Lincoln in the fourth, but the Pirates were able to strike back just in time to get Brad a win. Andrew McCutchen singled in the sixth, and Pedro Alvarez (who had struck out badly his first two times up) ripped a double to the opposite field gap, sending McCutchen flying around the bases for the go-ahead run. Fantastic. It wasn’t a great game for the offense by any means, but Sanchez hadn’t allowed more than two earned runs all year–so I’d call it a decent night.

The Pirates squandered a chance to add on in the eighth after Barajas led off the inning with a double. Clint Barmes tried to bunt him to 3rd–an incredibly foolish decision, largely because Barajas is super-slow. He was nailed at third. Then Barmes tried to steal second and was gunned down. Alex Presley was also caught stealing in the ninth–the FIFTEENTH time a Pirate has been caught stealing. They’ve only been successful 16 times. That’s a horrendous ratio…they should really just stop with the running game altogether at that rate.

Anyway, the bullpen made it moot–barely. Jason Grilli had a crazy eighth, as he often does. The Fish put men at the corners with just one out, but Grilli got Logan Morrison to strike out and Giancarlo Stanton to pop out. Joel Hanrahan pitched a clean ninth for the save.

Pirates 3, Marlins 2 / Box / 2012 Record: 17-18 / Next: Tuesday, at Marlins, 7:10

MVP: Barajas (+.164) / LVP: Barmes (-.106) / Key play: Pedro’s double

©2012 Raise the Jolly Roger. All Rights Reserved.

Source: FanGraphs

©2012 Raise the Jolly Roger. All Rights Reserved.

7:10 PM EST–Marlins Park, Miami

Here is the MLB.com Gameday

TV: ROOT Sports

The Bucs are taking their talents to South Beach this week for a quick two game set against the Marlins. It will be the inaugural matchup between the Pirates and the MIAMI Marlins, as well as the Bucs’ first new game in the wacky Marlins Park.

About the Marlins:

The Fish had a crazy offseason, adding Jose Reyes, Heath Bell, and Mark Buehrle among others. They got off to a slow start but have picked things up since and will probably at least hang around in the East. They won in dramatic fashion yesterday on a Giancarlo Stanton (formerly Mike) walk-off grand slam.

Tonight’s starters…

Brad Lincoln (2-0, 0.63) vs. Anibal Sanchez (2-0, 2.01)

Lincoln, who has been fantastic out of the bullpen since his callup, finally gets a chance to start tonight. Erik Bedard was pushed back to Thursday with his back spasms. Lincoln hasn’t started in about a month so I wouldn’t expect him to go deep in to the game today, but he’s looked excellent in long relief so he certainly could put together a good start.

Sanchez is probably the Marlins’ best pitcher and has been strong so far this year, especially in his last outing (7 scoreless vs. the Astros). We all know about the Pirates’ offense, so this will be a difficult matchup for sure. You can see the Pirates haven’t done well against him (in a limited sample, of course).

Marlins vs. Lincoln:

Pirates vs. Sanchez:

©2012 Raise the Jolly Roger. All Rights Reserved.

A.J. Burnett pitched very well, again. He wasn’t racking up big strikeout numbers today (just four), but instead got a bunch of quick outs and easy innings. The Astros were able to string some timely hits together in the fifth and seventh to scratch out two runs, which unfortunately looked like it would be enough to hand Burnett an un-deserved loss. He’s been fantastic in every start except for the disaster in St. Louis. Eight innings from a starter used to be an extremely rare event for the Bucs–now it’s becoming commonplace.

The Pirates’ offense got off to a nice start, scoring in the first inning for the second straight game. Neil Walker and Andrew McCutchen hit back-to-back doubles, and it seemed like the Bucs would be able to hit Wandy Rodriguez well. Not the case. After the first, Wandy got in to the ZONE, facing the MINIMUM through the next seven innings. Pedro Alvarez led off the fourth with a single, but was erased on a double play. That was the only baserunner the Pirates got until the ninth inning, and a devastating 2-1 loss and more grumbling about the offense seemed imminent.

But then, the Astros pulled Rodriguez in favor of their closer Brett Myers in the ninth–a curious decision since Rodriguez was cruising AND beacuse Houston let him bat with the bases loaded and two outs in the top of the eighth. Bad move. Jose Tabata drew a leadoff walk, then Walker doubled. All of a sudden, the Bucs were in prime position to tie or walk off. McCutchen was intentionally walked, then Alvarez fell behind in the count but battled and hit a sac-fly to tie the game.

Clint Hurdle then seemingly lost his mind and pinch hit Nate McLouth for Casey McGehee. There were two reaons why this was stupid:

• McLouth is a terrible hitter (I don’t care that he’s lefty or had good career numbers off Myers, he’s in an enormous funk right now and McGehee is a decent option).
• The Pirates didn’t have anyone left to play first base. Garrett Jones had already pinch-hit and was out of the game

McLouth, of course, had one of the worst AB’s I’ve ever seen and struck out on three pitches (the third strike was a fastball down the middle that he stared at). Hurdle then pinch hit Alex Presley for Yamaico Navarro–another questionable move, especially since Navarro was probably the best remaining 1B option. Presley made an out, and the game headed to extras. Michael McKenry came in to catch, and Rod Barajas grabbed a first-base glove for his first action there since 2008.

Joel Hanrahan tossed a clean tenth in his first game back from his grandmother’s funeral, so the Bucs had another chance. Barajas led off with a single, and of course, was removed for a pinch-runner. Clint Barmes was the only man left (Josh Harrison started at shortstop), and when the Bucs didn’t score, Barmes headed over to first for the next inning. Juan Cruz and Tony Watson pitched scoreless frames, and instead of having one of them bat, Hurdle sent up James McDonald to pinch hit (he struck out). Just awful management of the bench, and he’s lucky there were no difficult plays at first that could have cost the Bucs. Hurdle was also lucky the game didn’t go on longer–he only used Hanrahan and Cruz for one inning despite a short bullpen (Brad Lincoln was only a last resort, because he’s Monday’s starter).

It didn’t look like the Bucs had much going in the bottom of the twelfth, but Barmes doubled with two outs. That brought up Harrison, who lined one to right. Barmes raced home just ahead of the throw, and the Bucs had another walk-off winner at PNC. That had to feel great for J-Hay, who was hitless up to that point and is hitting just .188.

What a mothers day for my mom and family to experience that!! twitter.com/jhay_da_man/st…

— Josh Harrison (@jhay_da_man) May 13, 2012

Crazy game. There was lots of bad offense, some strange decisions, but once again great pitching bailed the Pirates out. They won the series vs. the Astros, moving them up in to 3rd in the Central. We’ll take it.

Pirates 3, Astros 2 / Box / 2012 Record: 16-18 / Next: Monday, at Marlins, 7:10

MVP: Walker (+.348) / LVP: Presley (-.146) / Key play: Harrison’s hit

©2012 Raise the Jolly Roger. All Rights Reserved.