Pirates Lose Again, 4-3

The Pirates are actually lucky, in a way, that the Brewers only won by one - Jeff Karstens gave up six walks and five hits, including moonshots by Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder, over five innings, and still only allowed four runs. Put a couple of those walked batters on when Braun and Fielder hit those homers, and the score quickly begins to look like that of a football game.

Of course, that sort of logic is by now familiar to the Pirates, who haven't hit a homer with a man on base since ever. Garrett Jones and Ryan Doumit hit solo homers for the Bucs today - Doumit's jack in the ninth closed the gap to one run, but the Pirates couldn't manage another run to tie it. Other than that, Dave Bush kept the ball low, and the Pirates couldn't do a whole lot against him. Oh - Sean Gallagher made his Pirates debut in relief of Karstens and was not particularly impressive, giving up two hits and hitting a batter in two thirds of an inning. 

There wasn't a lot to write home about today in the minor leagues. Zach Duke rehabbed in Altoona, allowing one run (a homer to Brandon Belt, who has an awesome name for someone no one can stop) in four innings and striking out none. Matt Hague doubled and homered. Zack Dodson and Brooks Pounders got hit hard for State College; Gift Ngoepe went 2-for-3 with a walk.