Game 53 Recap-
Pittsburgh Pirates LH SP Phil Dumatrait showed his former employers that maybe they made a mistake, helping the boys in black beat the Cincinnati Reds, 7-2 Thursday at Great American Ball Park in Ohio. The former 1st rounder was 0-4 with a 15.00 era in 6 starts with the Reds in 2007, the club placed him on waivers in October and Pittsburgh picked him up. Dumatrait,now 2-2 with a 3.52 era, pitched 7 innings with only 2 infield hits against(one run) with 9 strikeouts and 2 walks. The youngster was all smiles after the game,”It was definitely special for me to go out there. I was definitely looking forward to it. Obviously it didn’t go as planned here last year”
The Pirates offensively put the pressure on from inning 1 to 9, with the return of a healthy Jack Wilson helping. The SS drove in the 1st run with a double, Cincy tied in the same inning with a fielder’s choice. Doubles by RF Xavier Nady and CF Jason Michaels made it 3-1 Pittsburgh. In the 4th, 2b Freddy Sanchez sacrifice fly made it 4-1. Jason Bay, who kills the Reds, capped the inning with his 13th homer, a 2 run shot. Reds RH SP Aaron Harang(4 IP,10 hits,6 runs and 2 strike outs) was gone soon after that but RF Xavier Nady greeted LH RP Jeremy Affeldt with a 2 run homer to left center for a 7-1 Pirates lead.
The story was clearly Dumatrait and the strong Pirates pen continued to support the starters. LH John Grabow(4-1,1.42 era) pitched a clean 8th and closer Matt Capps got some work in the 9th. The 3rd year veteran allowed a meaningless homer to Reds 2b Brandon Phillips in the inning. Solid, solid win by the Pirates to salvage the third game in this series.
Star of the Game-
Dumatrait- 2 hitters tend to do that for you! Kid has talent, looks like he might be a keeper. Serious stones today vs a good hitting club that has been hot
Pirates Notes-
Bay’s homer was his 14 at Great American Ball Park, his most at any road stadium. Only Houston’s Lance Berkman, with 18 has more at Cincinnati…. Nady has hit safely in consecutive games at GABP with a .372 career average and 6 homers… The Pirates called up RH Bryan Bullington, 1st pick 2002, to help the bullpen, most innings in the NL. RH Marino Salas sent down to Triple A Indianapolis…. Veteran Raul Chavez got the start at C and doubled to lead off the 4th, scoring in that 3 run inning
Next Game-
Friday-8:15- Busch Stadium, St. Louis
Pirates LH Zach Duke(2-3,4.55) vs Cardinals RH Todd Wellemyer(5-1,3.36)
