Pirates Improve To 10-5

The home-standing Pirates beat the Jets 7-5 Sunday afternoon at Memorial.  

The Jets struck in the top of the first but had to regret that they scored only a single run.  Their lead-off batter singled against starter, Jose Cubero, but the next batter lined out to Chris Gregory on a sliding catch in center field and his throw to first to John Denney was in plenty of time to double the runner off.  Two more singles and two walks resulted in only that one run as Jose struck out the next batter.

In the Pirates home half, two Pirates reached on errors (Jose and Bill Keeling), Chris walked and three Pirates singled (Juan Ortiz, Scotty Irish and Brent Bonte) with  Jose, Bill Keeling, Juan, and Scotty scoring for a 4-1 Pirate lead after One.

In the second, a one out walk was harmless.  David threw out the lead-off man to John at first, Jose recorded his second strike out, and Bill tracked down a pop up over his shoulder in short right field.  The Pirates made it 6-1 with Jose, Bill, John and Scotty singling, Juan walking with Bill and John scoring.

The Jets made it a game in the third.  The first four batters singled and a couple of Pirate errors resulted in a four run inning and a 6-5 score.  Chris manufactured the last run of the game in the fourth.  After a single, Chris stole second and third and came on when the attempt to throw him out went into left field.  The Pirate bats were quiet the rest of the way.  Jose singled in the fourth, Brent walked in the sixth and Leo Brown singled in the eighth.

But Pirate pitching and defense shut the jets down, too.

In the fourth, Scotty, at second, threw out the first batter and, after a single, started a double play to David and John.

A fly out to Chris, a pick-off (Jose to John to Scotty) and Jose's third strike out retired the Jets in the fifth.

A sixth inning lead-off error led to nothing as the next three Jets went down (Bill to David; a pop up to David and Jose's fourth K).

The Jets went three up three down in the seventh, eighth and ninth, with John pitching the eight and ninth.  The seventh saw a line drive to David, a fly out to Chris and a ground out- David to John.  In the eighth John threw eight pitches, all strikes and the Jets went out on a fly ball to Jose in left, a pair of ground outs, Brent at third to Leo at first and David to Leo.  And  in the ninth, with John again trowing all strikes, he got the save and Jose the win when the Jets went down John to Leo, pop up to David and Bill at second to Leo for the final out.

The Pirates meet the division leading Orioles Thursday night at Memorial.