It's June 15, and the Pirates have a winning record this late in the season for the first time since ... let's say the Carter administration. (Actually, it's August 15, 1999.) Personally, I hope the Bucs reel off a long winning streak, not only because that would be awesome in itself, but because it really would be nice to enjoy the Pirates being a competitive team without the need to pontificate thrice weekly on the historical significance of their being .500, or having a winning record, or whatever pseudo-milestone they just reached.
And sorry for the attitude, since overall, being 34-33 at this point in the year feels amazing. I don't mean to minimize it - it's incredibly freeing to not feel the sense of absurdity that typically accompanies Pirate fandom at this point of the year. But this was a harder-won game than 7-3 victories tend to be. It was extremely long, and there seemed to be multiple baserunners aboard at all times. Certainly, it's always nice to see the Pirates score seven runs, even if one of them came home as the result of a really bad throw by Brett Wallace (that probably happened partially because the pitcher ran into his path on his way to cover first) and two more were the result of a fly ball by Xavier Paul that would have been a routine out in most other ballparks.
Charlie Morton allowed three runs and most of those aforementioned million baserunners in five innings, and left down 3-2. (The Pirates' two runs came on an RBI triple by Neil Walker in the first and an RBI single by Walker in the third.) But Dan McCutchen came on to pitch three scoreless innings, which allowed the Pirates to get back in the game. They had a three-run sixth inning off Enerio Del Rosario, thanks in part to three straight hits by Paul, Jose Tabata and Garrett Jones. Then Paul hit his two-run homer in the seventh to seal it. Chris Resop pitched his way into trouble in the ninth, but Joel Hanrahan picked up the save to end it.