RECAP - Pirates - 3 / Cubs - 2

Mark "The Shark" Melancon = AUTOMATIC

Pittsburgh Pirates - 3
Chicago Cubs - 2

WP - Farnsworth
LP - Strop
S - Melancon (16)

The Pittsburgh Pirates keep a rollin' (que the Aerosmith "Train Keep A Rollin'" song) on in their quest to not settle for a Wild Card playoff birth, but to win the division and guarantee a lengthy stay in the postseason.  Looking back at this game, its hard to think that Francisco Liriano would take a no hitter into the 7th inning, only give up 3 hits, and not walk away with the win.  When thinking about it, there is a good chance Liriano could have gotten the loss yesterday instead of the no decision.  Let me paint the picture for those that might not have been able to see/listen to the game.  Liriano was dealing (as usual), but had walked several batters to get his pitch count higher than anyone would have liked.  Before entering the 7th inning he was around 100 pitches.  Pirates catcher, Tony Sanchez (who seems to compliment Liriano well), was quoted by saying that he feels that Liriano typically starts to really fatigue around that 100 pitch mark.  Well, you can say that he was spot on.  In the 7th inning, Liriano gave up an infield single.  Next pitch, a 2 run home run to tie the game at 2.  Next pitch, a single...and Hurdle pulled the plug on Liriano.  On Twitter fans were adamant that Liriano should be given the chance to go the distance (this was before the 3 pitch swing that changed the game).  I totally disagreed.  The Pirates are in the midst of a postseason run and a pennant chase.  Liriano is a cornerstone in the rotation and losing him to injury would be debilitating to the Pirates.  Sure I would love to see Frankie get a no-no, but at the same time, the team's goals are far more important in my opinion.  Even with Liriano's brain fart in the 7th, the "Shark Tank" lived up to the billing and shut the door on the Cubs, but if it wasn't for clutch hitting...these Pirates wouldn't be singing about taking 3 of 4 from the Cubs.

Yes, you read that correctly...CLUTCH HITTING by the Pirates, and its coming from some unlikely characters.  Tony Sanchez's home run in the 4th looked to be enough to seal the deal, but after the Cubs' 2 run jobber in the 7th...things looked pretty grim.  Next thing you know, Andrew McCutchen takes a HBP in the gluteus maximus, Marlon Byrd bloops a single into center, and the man who has drawn ire from Twitter fans since coming to the Pirates, Justin Morneau singled in "Cutch" from second to give the Pirates the 3-2 lead and thats all she wrote.  The Pirates are a sneaky ball club (can't type that without thinking of the character from Mr. Deeds).  They almost play dead (not intentionally) for the majority of the game, and next thing you know they will have an outburst, a clutch hit, or just start to chip away at a deficit.  Take that simple fact of playing "never say die baseball", the pitching staff starting to get hot again, the ever consistent bull pen, and you have the looks of a real contender...and I'm not just talking about a postseason birth.  I'm talking about a postseason run.  I said earlier that if the Pirates want to seriously contend for the NL Central that they would need to go 6 of 8 in the two 4 game sets with the Cubs and Padres.  Mission accomplished in series one against the Cubs (took 3 of 4).  Take 3 of 4 from the Padres and the Pirates will be sitting pretty when the Reds come to town next weekend. 

All I have to say is...how sweet is it to have meaningful baseball in late September?!