Pirates 3 Braves 2

Not much happened after the first inning in this one. The Braves put up one on Chacon in the top of the first, then inexplicably failed to score off him in the next four innings despite his clear lack of command of the strike zone. Still, Chacon was better than I expected, as he didn't cause us to singlehandedly lose a game and will in fact be credited with a win. In the bottom of the first, Chris Duffy singled, stole two bases, and scored on Jason Bay's single. Bay promptly stole second and scored on Joe Randa's double. Strangely enough, the Pirates didn't attempt another steal the rest of the way. Each team scored once after the first, the Pirates on a Joe Randa double in the sixth and the Braves on an Andruw Jones double in the eighth amongst Steve Blass's "Matt Capps for closer" ruminations. Still, beyond Capps the pen did another stand-up job today with Grabow kicking in two perfect innings, Torres and Marte slinking out of the jam Capps put them in (read that again, I'm as stunned as anyone), and Gonzo actually pitching a 1-2-3 ninth for an easy save in a close game. Even after dropping 2 of 3 in this series, the Pirates are now 11-8 since the break.