Pirates lose Wandy Rodriguez, but play well in 5-3 victory

Wandy Rodriguez left the game with a hamstring problem, and the Pirates need him back as soon as possible. But so many things went right tonight that I'm not inclined to focus on Rodriguez.

The Pirates took a 3-0 (!!!) lead in the first on an RBI double by Andrew McCutchen and a two-run single by Travis Snider. The Diamondbacks came back to tie the game with one run in the second and two more in the third, but the Pirates weren't done. The Bucs re-took the lead in the fifth, when Starling Marte tripled into the corner (he hit the ball extremely hard and ran extremely fast, which seems like a pretty good formula) and McCutchen brought him home with a sacrifice.

And then ... Justin Wilson. If what we saw tonight is any indication of what we'll get from Wilson in the future, mark me down for a "Yes, please." Wilson breezed through three innings, repeatedly hitting 96-97 MPH. His matchup against righty power hitter Paul Goldschmidt in the fifth scared me a little, but Wilson whiffed him with a mitt-popping fastball.

Garrett Jones -- who'd had some of the Pirates' worst at-bats so far this year, and that's saying a lot -- hit a solo homer off Josh Collmenter in the eighth to make it 5-3. If Jones can get hot, that would go a long way toward fixing the Pirates' offensive problems.

Mark Melancon, who's been everything we hoped for so far this season, struck out two in a scoreless eighth, and then Jason Grilli picked up the save in the ninth.

So: Good games from McCutchen, Marte, Snider, Wilson, Jones, Melancon and Grilli, and the Pirates pick up the win. I'll take that. Now let's hope Rodriguez' hamstring doesn't become an ongoing problem.