Rockies 5, Pirates 4

What a weird one. The Pirates and Rockies traded zeroes -- with at least some alarm bells ringing regarding the Pirates' offense, considering the Buc's struggles against Milwaukee on Sunday -- until the fifth, when Jeff Karstens dribbled a ball through the hole between first and second for an RBI single. Unfortunately, Karstens then gave up four runs in the bottom of the inning, with the first coming on a grounder for a single up the middle by Josh Rutledge. Eric Young then hit a high fastball to deep right, where Josh Harrison (not an actual outfielder, you might be surprised to hear) misjudged it. It went over Harrison's opposite-side shoulder for a double. Marco Scutaro then took a Clint Barmes-like swing on a breaking pitch and accidentally hit a single, putting the Rockies up by three.

The Pirates didn't do much hitting at all against Jeff Francis and the Rockies, and the Bucs' own poor baserunning (Andrew McCutchen got picked off, and Neil Walker got caught stealing as well) didn't help.

It stayed that 4-1 until the top of the ninth, when Andrew McCutchen and Neil Walker reached base. And then, with one out, Pedro Alvarez was due to come to the plate, representing the tying run ... at which point the game went into a rain delay. When it ended, Alvarez smacked Rex Brothers' first pitch, a fastball, for a homer to a mostly-empty section of seats in left, tying the game at four.

That was all the heroics the Pirates could muster this time, though. Jason Grilli, easily the Bucs' best reliever this season, came on to pitch the bottom of the inning and gave up singles to Wilin Rosario and Jason Giambi. Dexter Fowler hit a sacrifice fly to end the game, 5-4.