Pirates 5 Braves 4

A second straight Bucco win that had a little bit of everything. Early on we get a healthy dose of Jason Bay, with his solo homer and RBI double providing our first two runs and two of our first three hits off of Hudson. Snell cruised through five innings, giving up only 3 hits (though 2 were solo homers) and helping stake the Bucs out to a 3-1 lead before completely losing it to the point that he walked Jeff Francouer. That's 100 times crazier than a Ronnie Paulino infield single. Counting tonight's walk, Francouer has 12 walks in 515 ABs. Randall Simon never even approached anything like that. Anyways, Grabow came in, issued a bases loaded walk, and promptly left, leaving Georgia native Matt Capps to clean up the mess. He managed to do so, getting a K to get out of the inning. Freddy Sanchez immediately responded with his sixth homer to give the Pirates their final margin of victory. It took a nice Jason Bay diving catch, a ridiculous play by Salomon Torres (Nady fielded a grounder and flipped it about 3 feet above Torres' head, so Sal leaped up, grabbed it, and came down on the bag without breaking his ankle, it was impressive to watch) and a flat out dominating ninth from Gonzo (11 pitches, 9 strikes, 3 Ks, daaaaaayum) to get there. Beating the Braves always makes me feel a little warmer on the inside.