Pirates 2, Reds 0: Bucs Pitchers Lead Pittsburgh To First Place

After a couple of rain delays, the Pirates defeated the Reds 2-0 as Charlie Morton allowed three hits in five innings (spread over something like three hours) and Tony Watson, Dan McCutchen and Joel Hanrahan combined for four innings of no-hit ball. 

Despite the rain, and the fact that it was Monday, it was an amazing atmosphere. The crowd was large and was really hanging onto every moment; most of it stayed until the end.

The first inning was agonizingly delayed when Morton was this close to working his way out of a huge jam; when the game resumed, Chase D'Arnaud (who later left the game with an injury that didn't appear to be serious) made a spectacular play to get Miguel Cairo to end it. D'Arnaud also kick-started the fourth inning, in which the Pirates scored their only two runs, with a single. 

Great game for the crowd, great game for the Pirates' pitchers, great game for the Pirates. Also, I guess, I and the rest of the bloggers were on TV (?), so great game for us. The game did, however, demonstrate that Steve Pearce's return is going to be very welcome - the bottom of the order against lefties is really bad, and Lyle Overbay in particular looked completely clueless tonight. His first two at-bats were absurdly bad. I know he's hit better recently and that his overall line against lefties is somehow okay, but I think there's some sample-size flukiness going on there, because he didn't hit lefties at all in 2008-2010, and there's no reason to expect him to continue to post reverse-platoon splits.

Anyway, the Brewers lost and the Cardinals were off, so the Pirates are now in sole possession of first place, a half-game ahead of both teams.