Pirates 3 Rockies 1

And the Pirates' second straight effective start comes from... Kip Wells?!? Kip delievered a quality start tonight, his first since, I dunno, 8 BC (before clot) and the Pirates offense coupled that with juuuust enough (lead by Freddy Sanchez's 2-for-3, 1 RBI, 1 R night) to eek out a win. The game wasn't on tonight, and since I'm smack dab in the middle of Pittsburgh, not even my Extra Innings Free Preview week had the game on, so I can't directly comment on what Kip did because I didn't see it. Still, the line looks pretty good, 7 innings, 7 hits, 2 walks, 1 run, 4 Ks. He threw 67 of 100 pitches for strikes, which is pretty good on any night. Out of his 7 hits, one was a homer to Barmes (oops, Barmes has been awful this year) and one was a double to Atkins, beyond that he scattered 5 singles. Probably the most impressive thing is that he did it on an oppresively hot and humid night, which is exactly the kind of night you would think a guy that's been rushed back from injury and isn't fully conditioned would struggle on. Still, one night does not a comeback make, and in fact all this may do is keep me from eating Kip Wells novella flavored crow for five more days. Still, it's at least something to be encouraged about, especially coupled with the last five innings of the start he made before this one, and there was nothing encouraging at all about his first three starts, so at least we're making progress.