Pirates dodge bullets, but lose 6-4

The Pirates lost a tense game in Denver Saturday night, 6-4, but at least none of their key players lost their hands.

Starling Marte left the game with an apparent hand injury after being struck by a pitch, but it appears he's just day-to-day with a contusion, which sounds like no big deal. Also, Pedro Alvarez took a Dexter Fowler spike to the hand, but stayed in the game.

The Pirates appear to have dodged some bullets there. The rest of the game, however, did not go particularly well. The Rockies scored first in the second inning, but the Pirates got one in the fourth (on a run-scoring double by Russell Martin) and two in the sixth (on a Garrett Jones RBI triple and a Jose Tabata RBI infield single) to go up 3-1.

That wouldn't last long, however, as A.J. Burnett allowed five two-out runs in the sixth -- Clint Hurdle probably left him out there for too long. Hurdle, fed up with it all, got tossed after arguing a close play in the top of the seventh. Neil Walker hit a grounder with two men on, and Troy Tulowitzki, before turning the double play, jumped while fielding the throw at second, apparently leading Hurdle to believe he wasn't on the bag. The Colorado replay made it look like the call was probably correct, however.

The Pirates got a run in the ninth and had Andrew McCutchen up as the go-ahead run with one out. But Rex Brothers struck out McCutchen and Alvarez to end it.

The Cardinals and Reds both lost, so it's likely that nothing from this game will come back to bite the Pirates. Marte's health bears watching, however.