Pirates Sweep Marlins, Run Win Streak to 6

The Pittsburgh Pirates are finally hitting their stride. Coming in to a weekend series with the New York Mets, the Bucs had a record of 18-22. After sweeping New York in 3 games and following that up with a 3 game sweep of the Miami Marlins, they are now 24-22 and just 2 games back of the Mets for a wildcard spot. Miami came to PNC Park on Monday hoping for a good showing under new manager Dan Jennings, but Pittsburgh just was not the place for that to happen. The series started on Memorial Day where the Pirates won 4-2. Charlie Morton's first start of the season was successful, and his  7 strong innings of work were backed up by a 3 run home-run from catcher Francisco Cervelli(his first as a Pirate). Cervillis blast ended up making the difference. The Bucs followed that up with a comfortable 5-1 win on Tuesday. Neil Walker homered and Jeff Locke was stellar, allowing 0 runs in 5.2 innings. Wednesdays game was the most entertaining of the 3 game set. The Marlins got out to an early 2-0 lead, and that lead held until the bottom of the 7th. First,  Josh Harrison singled to make it 2-1. Then Clint Hurdle decided to take the bat out of Jordy Mercer's hands, and pinch-hit Pedro Alvarez in his place. The move worked, and Alvarez slapped a game tying single to right field. With the bases loaded, Starling Marte had a brilliant at bat and walked in the go-ahead run to make it 3-2(Marte also robbed a home run earlier in the game). Jung-ho Kang proceeded to drive the nail in the Miami coffin with a 2 run single to make it 5-2. Tony Watson and Mark Melancon shut down the fish in the last 2 innings to secure the win. Gerrit Cole allowed just 2 runs over 7 innings, and he received a well deserve win to improve is record to 7-2.

I think it is safe to say that the Pirates are in form. As has become a pattern under Clint Hurdle, the Pirates had a rough April and the struggles continued into May, but as June nears, Pittsburgh is finally hitting their stride. They will now travel to San Diego to take on the 23-25 Padres, which I predict will be at least a series win for the Pirates. I think that the Pirates will keep this up, and it should be a very fun summer on the North Shore.