Pirates 3, Braves 2

This one looked like one of those epic Pirates games where the team doesn't even look that impressive -- Ian Snell somehow allowed just one run despite six walks in seven innings, and the Pirates' offense didn't do anything that impressive, either. Still, the Bucs headed into the ninth with the score tied 2-2.

Something funny happened on the way to the Wagnerian fifteen-inning tragedy, however. Jose Bautista singled in the bottom of the ninth and, after a fielder's choice and another single by Doug Mientkiewicz, Brian Bixler wound up at third. No safety squeeze this time, fortunately, as Freddy Sanchez brought the winning run home with a single.

Sanchez had an .860 OPS in May heading into the game tonight, and he added a single and a double. At the tail end of April, MLB.com reported that Sanchez felt like he was ready to break out. There was no quote from Sanchez supporting it, so it was probably more PR-puffery than anything else, but so far it looks prescient.