Pirates complete sweep with 7-3 win

The Pirates finished off their sweep of Joey Votto and the Louisville Reds, 7-3, behind a big day from the bottom of their order.  They got another early, 4-0 lead, this one in the second inning, a lot of it due to Reds' ineptitude.  Sean Rodriguez, Josh Bell and Adam Frazier (apparently not playing in his walking boot) led off with singles to load the bases.  Eric Fryer, apparently not used to being a Pirate yet, brought in a run with a sacrifice fly.  Trevor Williams then walked on four pitches to load the bases back up.  Jordy Mercer then reached on an error, which brought in a second run.  David Freese hit into a force at the plate, but Andrew McCutchen brought in a pair by lining a single to left.

Williams meanwhile breezed through the first four innings, allowing just a single and getting that runner wiped out with a double play.  Williams didn't dominate -- he fanned just one -- but he got a bunch of grounders and threw strikes.  The Pirates tacked on additional runs in the third -- when Williams walked again, this time with the bases loaded -- and the fourth, on Rodriguez' 16th HR.

Unfortunately, Williams got off to a rough start in the fifth.  Two HRs and two singles to open the inning made it 6-2 brought out Clint Hurdle because, you know, Williams isn't Ryan Vogelsong.  Juan Nicasio got a double play that brought in a third run.  Nicasio ended up going two scoreless innings.  Zach Phillips could retire only one of the three hitters he faced in the seventh, but Felipe Rivero bailed him out and also pitched the eighth, striking out three total.

The Pirates added a final run on a two-out, RBI double by Pedro Florimon.  Tony Watson pitched a quick bottom half in the non-save situation.  The win brought the Pirates back to .500 and left them five games out of the wild card and two behind St. Louis.