Pittsburgh Pirates Break Out the Brooms, Sweep Marlins
The Zombie worked 7 scoreless to earn the win.
Jeff Karstens is one of those pitchers I will never fully understand. He has the control and pitching smarts to realize that he needs to keep his breaking balls low and induce ground ball outs. He turns in performances like today (7IP 1 ER) and looks phenomenal. But…it’s Jeff Karstens. I don’t know. But anyways, the Pirates shut out the Marlins to complete the three game sweep. The Bucs got on the board early with an RBI from Cutch, and that’s all Karstens would need. Jeff dominated the Marlins’ bats and the defense behind him was stellar. Pitchers duel continued on with A. Sanchez, who at one point retired 12 straight.
The back breaker came when Pedro added insurance in the 7th. #Daydro may be a horrible post game interview candidate, but he loves his day games. He blasted a homer over the Clemente wall to give the Bucs a 3-0 lead they wouldn’t let go. Jared Hughes held in the 8th and Joel Hanrahan closed out the game with no hitches.
With this series, the Pirates did not have their best series at the plate but the pitchers bailed out the Bucs to make up for the Colorado series. Next up, the Pirates finish up a home stand against the Cubs, another potential sweep. The Pirates need to keep playing well because the Reds are not dropping any games at this point. This is going to be a great July if the Pirates take care of business like this.
