Reds 9, Pirates 8

Ye Old Redlegs defeat the Freddy Sanchez-less Bucs.

NOTABLE THINGS

Pitching: Milton had maybe a typical day at work, going 3.2/3, giving up 7 hits and 3 earned runs. He walked one but had 3 K's, which was nice to see. Stanton, Livingston, and Coffey threw some no-hit innings in the middle, and Coffey in particular was on fire striking out all 3 of the batters he faced. Brad Salmon had an interesting 2/3 of an inning as he gave up one hit but 3 runs. None of them earned. Shackelford got the win allowing a hit and a run, but again, no earned runs. How about all of these runs that were not earned runs? We'll talk about that in the bottom category, so please stay tuned. Meadows pitched a clean ninth for the save.

Hitting: Nice to see some offense come back, and it started with Ryan Freel leading off, going 2/3 and scoring both times. The story here, and has been the whole time, is Josh Hamilton. Hamilton was 3/3, all singles, and got an RBI for his troubles. What a kid. Alex Gonzalez was 2/3. EdE was 2/4. Adam Dunn was back to his old self, going 0/3 with 2 K's. Yuck. Castro provided the highlight with a pinch-hit 2-run HOMER!! Haha, who would have guessed? Nobody did as he got up to swing the bat. Couldn't have worked out much better, though. Then Jerry Gil hit a double and scored the winning run for the team. Nice way to do it.

Fielding & such: So, about all those unearned runs? Thanks for FOUR errors today. Playing small ball the hard way. Here's who screwed it up for Salmon: EdE had his 2nd error of the year, Bellhorn had one, and Norris Hopper of all people got in the crazy mix. Shackelford's unearned run was his fault and should have been earned because he got called for interference. 15 yards and a first down? Apparently not. Seriously, though. Shouldn't it count as an earned run if the pitcher is the one to make the error? Get real. Freel & EdE had stolen bases today, and Jerry Gil got a little ahead of himself trying to steal 2nd base and was rejected. Inherited runners who scored, which had been good and low for the Reds, was 4-for-4 today. Not great. Errors helped, though.