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Pirates Lose To Rockies 6-4, But Get Bullpen Back For Sunday

I was out for the first several innings of this one, but here are some notes anyway:

After Charlie Morton induced a double play by Carlos Gonzalez that brought home a run in the first, Ryan Doumit answered with a two-run homer in the second. Gonzalez had an RBI single in the third to tie the score, and the Rockies rallied again in the fifth, but Morton and the Pirates escaped unscathed when Garrett Jones threw out Jose Morales at home. Seth Smith a solo homer in the sixth, though, giving the Rockies a 3-2 lead. Matt Diaz (who was 2-for-2 for the day) hit an RBI single in the seventh to tie the score.

At that point, the Pirates replaced Morton with Jose Veras, who promptly got into trouble with a walk and a single. Veras then completely fooled Troy Tulowitzki with a ridiculous strike-three curveball, and struck out Smith on a curve as well, and it looked like he might get out of it. Then he grazed Jose Lopez's jersey, however, and Ty Wigginton brought all three runners home with a double. Jose Tabata hit a towering solo homer in the eighth to make it 6-4, but that was all the Pirates could manage.

With the Pirates' bullpen completely worn down (and with new arrival Daniel McCutchen, taking Ross Ohlendorf's place on the 25-man roster, already having faced a batter in the seventh when Veras exited), the Bucs actually turned to Kevin Correia, who got through a scoreless ninth.

Morton's line for the day looked a bit like his last one - he went seven innings and allowed three runs, two earned, with 13 ground ball outs (and five outs in the air). He got the job done yet again thanks to the grounders, but he again allowed five walks against only one strikeout, giving him three strikeouts and 10 walks so far for the season.

The Bucs lost, but at least Morton went seven innings and Correia picked up an inning, meaning the bullpen only had to get through one inning. That's fortunate, after the 11-plus innings the bullpen had to pitch on Friday. The Pirates' relievers should be somewhat rested tomorrow; Correia's next start is on Tuesday.

***

Just read through some of the gamethread. I don't have a problem with an occasional expletive when something goes wrong, but tonight there was a fair amount of stuff that, in my judgment, crossed a line, and got deleted. (I'm not sure I got it all.) I really don't like being the policeman here, so please don't make me start banning people, and use your judgment. Let's try to keep this place PG-13-rated.