Ross Ohlendorf allowed seven runs in two innings pitched this afternoon in Arizona, and at this point, it's tough to imagine the Pirates taking him to arbitration - not that I really thought they were going to anyway. Jared Hughes, who had done such a nice job in his first several outings, didn't help at all here, allowing all three of the runners he inherited to score and tacking on one of his own.
After that, it was all Pirates, as the Bucs hung up runs in the second, fourth, sixth, seventh and eighth. Unfortunately, scoring one run in an inning is a lot worse than scoring five. Ryan Ludwick and Derrek Lee homered, and Lee went 3-for-4. Despite putting up a bit of offense, the Pirates struck out eight times and walked once. Amazingly, they're only 127 strikeouts ahead of the National League average, but they still might end up leading all of baseball in offensive strikeouts this year. (And yes, I know this doesn't matter much on an individual level, and yeah, I know the Pirates aren't always treated fairly by home-plate umpires, but this isn't a power-hitting team that just happens to rack up strikeouts. Today's five-run performance aside, it's a team that doesn't really know how to hit.)