Pirates 5, Cardinals 4

There were probably more comments in the gamethread about the Penguins than about this one, but this was a pretty interesting game too. Early on, it looked like a typical Gorzelanny implosion--ugly, but nothing to write home about. The first three Cardinal batters all hit the ball hard, and St. Louis grabbed two runs in the first inning and two more in the third. Meanwhile, the Bucs couldn't get anything going against Adam Wainwright, at least not at first--after 5 2/3, he'd faced the minimum number of batters.

Gorzelanny managed to last six innings without giving up any more runs, and then Wainwright gave up a double (to Jason Bay) and a couple of walks to load the bases. Jason Michaels--who also drove in three runs in a pinch hit at bat on Friday--hit a grand slam to tie the game in the seventh. Remarkably, Michaels now has eleven RBIs in 37 at bats with the Pirates.

(On a side note, this guy needs a nickname. I've commented before that he looks like Nate McLouth after ten years of hard drinking, so maybe that could be a starting point... any ideas?)

Anyway, Bay singled in the winning run in the eighth. The Bucs only had eight hits and two walks this game, so they scored five runs mostly by taking advantage of the opportunities they had. The bullpen made up for Gorzelanny's patchy showing by pitching three scoreless innings.